Six Bridges to Cross (1955)

Overrated and overhyped

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Six Bridges to Cross is supposed to be based on the famous Brinks Payroll robbery but bears hardly the slightest resemblance to that celebrated case (for one thing the police still don't have a clue as to who the criminals were and they are still at large) which was obviously used purely as a publicity gimmick to sucker the unwary into seeing what is essentially a very, very familiar gangster yarn - in fact it is probably the oldest chestnut in the business and has been used before in scores and scores of much more worthy films than this pretentious little bit of hoke.For all the touting in the Foreword about filming in Boston, there is very little of Boston that gets onto the screen and what there is is so ordinary and un-unique the film might as well have been lensed in downtown Los Angeles.Admittedly, Pevney's direction in the street sequences with Sal Mineo is a shade more inventive than his usual humble standard and the photography has an attractive sheen, but once Curtis comes in, almost everything goes back to so-so!Mind you, there's a bit of routine action excitement, but there's also lots of talk with the stars jadedly going through their usual paces, Nader with furrowed brow, Curtis with winning smile, Jay C. Flippen laying down the law. Julie Adams has so small a part it's impossible to judge, yet the excellent girls playing Maggie the Screwball and Virginia Stewart don't figure in the end credits at all!Production values are very moderate. Pace is fair, but action climax is not much and film is lucky to get 6 out of 10.

"Six Bridges to Cross" is an entertaining crime film, but I have to tell you up front that it didn't always make sense...especially at the end of the film...and that's a bad place for the picture to let down the audience.The film begins with a young punk (Sal Mineo) getting shot by a cop after a break-in. Everyone says that 'the kid will never be able to father any kids'--meaning he must have blown his testicles off with the bullet. But this doesn't make sense for many reasons. First, the kid, Jerry Florea, becomes good friends with the cop who shot him. If someone shot off my testicles, I don't think friendship is something I would seek...even if it was my fault. Also, later in the film the guy is arrested for statutory rape. Am I missing something?!?!Regardless of how illogical the beginning is, years pass and Tony Curtis now plays the older Florea. He and the cop have a strained relationship. Although they've been friends, Florea has not stayed out of crime and now they meet mostly because Florea is a stoolie and the cop's career is blossoming because of all the crimes he solves because Florea has a big mouth. Even this sort of relationship sours over time, as Florea goes in and out of jail his whole life. By the end of the film, the cop is certain that Florea is behind a huge 2.5 million dollar heist...and how Florea comes to take responsibility for the crime is 100% unbelievable in light of the fact that he's a scum- bag.The acting is fine, the script interesting, the script...uneven. Overall, a time passer that SHOULD have and COULD have been a lot better. The ending is very frustrating.

Examing some of Tony Curtis's early starring work I've noticed that while seeing him costume dramas and swashbucklers has to be taken with a grain of salt, his work in modern setting films is very good. A really fine example is this film Six Bridges To Cross where Tony plays a young hood who forms a curious symbiotic relationship with a cop that shot him.The cop is young patrolman George Nader who spots Sal Mineo leaving with his gang of youths from a warehouse robbery. After Mineo refuses to halt Nader shoots and wounds him. The shot went to the source of life and leaves him sterile. Mineo and later Curtis have a certain charm to the character they play and he holds no grudges against Nader. In fact Nader tries to give Curtis every kind of break he can, but Curtis is an incorrigible criminal who is convinced he's smarter than most of the world.Later on Curtis pulls a huge payroll robbery based on the Brinks case in Boston and Nader's relationship with Curtis is called into question. Which only resolves Nader to nail him once and for all.Curtis is perfectly cast in this urban drama, his city diction and manner are suited perfectly for this role. Nader plays the earnest young cop who is caught between trying to give a man he permanently maimed a break and his duty as a police officer. Julia Adams gives good support to Nader as his wife and sympathetic understanding to Curtis.Though he has a small role Don Keefer has some great moments as a real weasel of a prosecutor trying to make a career for himself by making out that Nader is corrupt. He's someone you'll love to hate.Six Bridges To Cross is a wonderful urban drama and perfectly suited for Tony Curtis.

Tony Curtis gives one of the best performances of his career as the mastermind of an armoured car robbery. This movie avoids cliches and goes straight to original character development while paying meticulous detail to the orchestration of the caper. Thoroughly absorbing from every standpoint.