Edward
Bartender
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- 26,279
- Location
- London, UK
Five Against the House 1955
I happened to see this film on UK television channel Film Four yesterday. I'd never heard of it before, though doubtless it's far from new to many on here. The basic plot is that four college students returning to their university after Summer break stop off in a Reno casino for an hour. They witness a failed attempt to rob it, following which a policeman tells them that robbing it is "impossible." One of them hatches a plan, the idea being to pull it off as a stunt, then return the money. Of course, it all goes horribly wrong.... It's a great film - with just a dash of profanity and a lorry load of pop culture references, I could see it passing for a Tarantino. lol What really caught my eye, though, were the men's clothes. This was not in any way a period piece - made in '55, it depicted people of '55. The four leads themselves were cracked up to be two young college students, and two slightly older guys who had seen service in Korea and were now reading law. They looked mid 30s, but I suspect they were mid 30s actors playing late 20s students.
The leads had a real mix of styles - two of them were the suit or sports coat types, two seemed to favour a more casual jacket - one of the Vets what looked to me to be a B-15, one of the younger kids a beautifully worn ANJ-3. Notably, none of them wore hats (I think in one or two brief scenes there might have been one in a flat cap). Hats were in abundance in the film, but all worn by men who would have been (and supposed to be) in their forties and upwards. Quite a few nice diamond crown bashes. I did think this depicted generational difference worthy of note given the popularity of the "Kennedy killed the hat" myth. Hollywood may not depict reality the best, but nonetheless it seems likely that this was something of a reflection of "real people" at the time?
I happened to see this film on UK television channel Film Four yesterday. I'd never heard of it before, though doubtless it's far from new to many on here. The basic plot is that four college students returning to their university after Summer break stop off in a Reno casino for an hour. They witness a failed attempt to rob it, following which a policeman tells them that robbing it is "impossible." One of them hatches a plan, the idea being to pull it off as a stunt, then return the money. Of course, it all goes horribly wrong.... It's a great film - with just a dash of profanity and a lorry load of pop culture references, I could see it passing for a Tarantino. lol What really caught my eye, though, were the men's clothes. This was not in any way a period piece - made in '55, it depicted people of '55. The four leads themselves were cracked up to be two young college students, and two slightly older guys who had seen service in Korea and were now reading law. They looked mid 30s, but I suspect they were mid 30s actors playing late 20s students.
The leads had a real mix of styles - two of them were the suit or sports coat types, two seemed to favour a more casual jacket - one of the Vets what looked to me to be a B-15, one of the younger kids a beautifully worn ANJ-3. Notably, none of them wore hats (I think in one or two brief scenes there might have been one in a flat cap). Hats were in abundance in the film, but all worn by men who would have been (and supposed to be) in their forties and upwards. Quite a few nice diamond crown bashes. I did think this depicted generational difference worthy of note given the popularity of the "Kennedy killed the hat" myth. Hollywood may not depict reality the best, but nonetheless it seems likely that this was something of a reflection of "real people" at the time?
