Walter Matthau directed and starred in this low budget crime thriller. He plays Jack a big citty hood who hides out in a small town where he pulls of a daring daylight bank robbery. He now has both the local cops and the FBI on his tail but the loacl hoods are slso a bit annoyed that he pulled of such a robbery without cutting them in. He tries one more robbery of a golf course and wants to go to Mexico the retire with his girl.
source
10 Replies to “GANGSTER STORY (1959) Walter Matthau”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
The old cars look good in this one.
My father, Harold Bastrup is the cop giving the radio call at the start of the movie. Walter Matthau came to Anaheim and filmed this. He hired local policemen to play the cop roles, and filmed it in local banks and hotels. Dad got $50 for the job, which was a lot of money then. It is his face, but they didn't like his voice and dubbed it. Years later Walter Matthau was on a talk show and was asked "what's the worst movie you ever made?" He said Gangster Story.
Continued: I recognize the bank and the Pickwick hotel counter. When I was a toddler we stayed at the Pickwick when we first moved to Anaheim, there were red carpeted stairs and there was candy behind glass behind that counter, the owner always gave me a piece of chocolate. I was fascinated by the cubbys for mail behind the counter. The cave at the beach at 26:00 is at Corona Del Mar, all the kids would play there, and still do.
Hey Mr. Willllsooonn
what parts of anaheim was this flmed at? Do you have an address or cross street? I live there and I cant find these land marks.
Not credible.
This is a little jewel!
Had I written the ending, the librarian would have hidden Walter in a crate of books and driven him safely to Mexico.
Directed by Walter Matthau? Good choice of career direction.
Scenes of L.A. and Socal locations are a treat. Film difficult to watch.
I love Bruce Mc Farlan's line about Johnnie's widow:
"Well, send her a thousand and… make it five hundred."