Die Rechnung ging nicht auf (1956)

Die Rechnung ging nicht auf: Directed by Stanley Kubrick. With Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen. Crook Johnny Clay assembles a five-man team to plan and execute a daring racetrack robbery.

“Stanley Kunbrick was still in his twenties when he made this film, yet his confidence and self-assurance are all over it. It is a well-written story, co-written by Kubrick (based on a novel called u0026quot;A Clean Breaku0026quot;), about a meticulously planned horetrack heist told from the point of view of the several people who were in on the plot. Most of these guys werenu0026#39;t professional criminals, but otherwise honest men who were down on their luck and needed a break. They turned to this audacious plan in desperation, thinking they could do some real good in their lives with their share of the money. I wonu0026#39;t give away the ending of course, but keep in mind this is a Kubrick film. Thatu0026#39;s all I say about that.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStandouts include Sterling Hayden as the ringleader, Marie Windsor as a snide, manipulative woman, Elisha Cook as her milquetoasty husband, Timothy Carey, as creepy as ever, and Kola Kwariani, the thinking manu0026#39;s Tor Johnson, as a chess expert/hired thug.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSpeaking of chess, this is the first movie Iu0026#39;ve ever seen with a scene taking place in a chess parlor. Being from a provincial New England town, and not being a chess afficionado, I never knew such places existed.”