“Nothing’s going to happen, unless you do something foolish.
Then I’ll kill you.
I’ve already killed twice so I won’t hesitate to do it again.”
The title sets expectations on the filmmaker. A man threatens a bank teller to take part in a robbery, and his main weapon of persuasion is that she’s completely scared to disobey him. Step back from the story and you have comic filmmaker Blake Edwards steering away from his usual so successfully, it disappointing he didn’t make this kind of film more often. It’s extremely well made.
I’ve seen this film listed as both Horror and Noir, and I understand why. The opening scene and other sequences that follow involving the bad guy are very unsettling, aided by terrific camerawork that likes to place him askew with the frame, giving him an otherworldly quality. D.P. Philip Lathrop (They Shoot Horses Don’t They?) and director Blake Edwards supply a bounty of great images. This makes for an easy transition when the FBI investigation, led by Glenn Ford, turns the film into more of a manhunt thriller. Edwards has never been one to rush a film and this one runs just over 2-hours. While the first half gets by on the uneasy atmosphere and a sustained fearful feeling, it starts to feel slack by the end.
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