Illegal/The Big Steal

My wife and I watched "Illegal" for the first time this week. It's easy viewing in a single night since it runs about an hour and a half long—87 minutes to be exact.In short, I thought “Illegal” was much better than I expected. We start out on one side of the law and then switch to the other with nice dramatic effect. There's also a good amount of humor as Edward G. learns how hard it is to set up a profitable, private law firm. Casting was very good, especially with the leading roles. The movie was well written, well directed, and had no slow or unnecessary parts. Some might find the show a bit dated since it went back to 1955, but things like this don’t bother us. We always see how classic movies can really be history lessons and this one was no exception.Ford Motor Co. apparently supplied most of the vehicles in the show which was a bit unfortunate from my standpoint. I prefer GM makes and always will. We did see a couple ’55 Buicks, but no Chevys I can recall. The rest of the cars were Fords, Mercurys, and Lincolns. In the chase scenes they all seemed to lean well over on turns and I thought there might be a mishap. There were no crashes but the lack of decent tires, brakes, and suspension on these cars from the 1950's made them dangerous even in normal city driving.Of course, our main attraction in viewing “Illegal” was Edward G. Robinson. He was his usual self-assured, dominant self and whoever wrote his lines knew what they were doing. It’s amazing how Eddie G. can dominate any scene he’s put in and show off his “star power.” Granted, he was nothing to look at and he was a rather short individual. But the personal magnetism is there in abundance. I think Eddie G. could have been a very good lawyer in real life--he was that convincing.Overall, I’d give “Illegal” 5 stars. My wife agrees and also said how much better it was than we expected.“Illegal” had several twists and turns and a somewhat inconclusive ending. I won’t say too much about that for obvious reasons. But there seemed to be hope that the good guys would all come out OK and the bad guys would be punished. Enough said.The second feature on this disk is "The Big Steal," with Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer. Although the show had its moments we can't give it more than 3 stars. It runs about an hour and 15 minutes. There was plenty of action, including Mitchum’s usual hand-to-hand combat and several pretty good chase scenes. We also like Jane Greer, the co-star. But the storyline was not as good as “Out of the Past,” with these same two stars, along with Kirk Douglas. “The Big Steal” takes place in Mexico, to a great extent, which didn’t bother me. However, my wife kept complaining about the corrupt Mexican government and today’s events surrounding the migrant invasions. Hmmm. Overall, I’d give “The Big Steal” 3 stars, not nearly as good a show as its companion piece, "Illegal."--Jim Wheeler, Tucon, Arizona

Both movies were new when I was a kid ,and therefore I never saw them before now, since they were made for an older audience (adults)."The Big Steal" car chase scenes were good for the times. 1941 Mercury chased by ('36 Auburn is my guess) chased by '48 Buick. The Special features discussed Robert Mitchum's '48-'49 legal problems and how that affected the filming. I'm a fan of "Thunder Road", but I didn't know the details of Mitchum's legal problems, until watching this trailer. Jane Greer was great and William Bendix (I used to watch "Life of Reilly" on TV as a kid) plays a mean bad guy. The information about all the main and minor actors and the movie studio was very interesting.Edward G. Robinson plays an interesting character in "Illegal". Ford Motor Co. apparently supplied the cars - '54 Fords, '55 Lincoln, '50 Ford, '55 Mercury, '54 Mercury and others. I enjoyed the car chase - '50 Ford, '55 Mercury, '54 Mercury, until they crashed the two Mercurys, but, they were just new cars back then. Jane Mansfield -Wow!.

Great movie

A very good follow up movie to "Out Of The Past"! Great chemistry between Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer. William Bendix is a great character actor too. Great "old car" chase scenes, as well as smart ass comebacks.

great movie

I liked both of these movies. The actors and actresses were very good and the stories were interesting. I recommend both of these movies.

Eddy G. in something different, very good. remake of Mouthpiece. Mitch is always a winner.

Great product

Illegal is pretty good but The Big Steal is terrific. Good quality picture and delivered quickly