Watch The Good Die Young For Free

To me, this movie is perfection.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

One by one we meet four troubled men.(1) Richard Basehart is a clerk in New York who gives up his job and spends all his money flying to England to fetch his wife, Joan Collins, back home. Collins loves Basehart but is in thrall to her wicked Mum who hates Basehart and constantly comes down with phony, hypochondriacal illnesses to keep Collins with her. Basehart can't pry her away and, in any case, is now nearly broke.(2) Stanley Baker, a boxer who has had his brains beaten out for twelve years but has finally managed to save twelve hundred pounds, enough for him to quit the ring and buy a tobacconist's shop. His decision is made final when he must have his hand amputated. Alas, his stake disappears when it's used as bail for his no-good brother-in-law who promptly skips town and forfeits the bail.(3) John Ireland, a sergeant in the US Air Force, who is about to be transferred from England to Germany. His problem is that his wife, Gloria Grahame, is a narcissistic film star who is always followed around by a gaggle of horny groupies. He becomes a deserter in his efforts to renew their love.(4) Lawrence Harvey: Smooth, insincere husband to a rich woman who finally refuses to pay for any more of his indulgences, such as women and gambling. Like the others, he's a combat veteran. But his decorations in North Africa were unjustly won because he simply murdered a handful of German prisoners. This was especially déclassé because North Africa was a gentleman's war. Now his rich old wife is cutting him off.What to do, what to do? The answer is to organize a group of robbers -- himself and the other three, whom he has met adventitiously in a pub -- and steal ninety thousand pounds in old bank notes from a post office across the street from the pub. They will all have guns but if they do what they're supposed to, the guns will not be needed.I don't want to give too much away, but the four men pull the robbery off, but the duplicitous Harvey not only begins shooting police officers but Baker as well. During their getaway, Harvey sees to it that Ireland "accidentally" falls on the third rail of the underground railway. Basehart has seen none of this but suspects betrayal since, after all, he may be a mere unemployed clerk but is not a jackass. Nobody gets away. This is 1954. No miscreant ever got away clean in 1954. But the final scene, a confrontation between Harvey and Basehart, is not badly done. A lot of tension nicely captured. Other than that, the direction is routine.I had a problem with Harvey's hair. He doesn't have nice hair. It's long, thin, and stringy and if not properly maintained it tends to fall in greasy strands across his forehead. Here, makeup has created a coiffure that resembles some kind of 1950s pompadour or something. It juts up and out over his face. When he runs, this lump of hair bounces up and down as if held together by Crazy Glue. Other than that, he's an admirable rat, what with his sleek features and posh accent. Joan Collins hasn't that much screen time but she's gorgeous. She should leave her cheek bones, those flaring malars, to the British Museum. She's worth robbing a Post Office for. Gloria Grahame was a popular noir figure and for good reason. She has a tiny sexy mouth and a girlish whine. She always sounds dumb and wily at the same time. But her attempt at an English accent is a successful failure.

"The Good Die Young" is a slog of a movie with an excess of plot development and a lack of action. Much of it is told in flashback dealing with how the disparate group of robbers was assembled. They are Harvey, Basehart, Ireland and Baker. Never have more time and words been spent in establishing motive and circumstance than in this talk-a-thon of a picture.On the distaff side of the cast are Gloria Grahame (trampy wife), Joan Collins (stalwart wife), and Margaret Leighton(worldly older wife). All acquit themselves very well and acting on both sides may be the only reason to stick this one out. The story itself is not bad, it just takes too long to get underway and by that time one's patience has been severely tried.I had a slight problem with the artificial denouement. I found the coincidental meeting of principals too far-fetched and defying the element of time, but at that point I just wanted it to end.

An attempt by the British to make a noirish thriller in the American style and it almost pays off. It's strong on atmosphere, with some superb nighttime photography, and it has an outstanding cast even if some of them are not at their best. It's both an heist movie and a character study that delves into the lives and backgrounds of the criminals on the job, by way of flashbacks.They are Laurence Harvey, Stanley Baker, (both very good), Richard Basehart and John Ireland, (less so), and their women include a young and highly inadequate Joan Collins, Gloria Grahame, (winging it), and a marvelous Margaret Leighton who plays the woman who is married to Harvey and who keeps him and who was also married to him in real life.The serviceable Lewis Gilbert directs with real flair. Gilbert never made the front ranks yet many of his films were surprisingly entertaining and well-made. This is one of them.

Four men are in a car. They are all from different walks of life and a short time ago none of them were nothing more than drinking buddies – now they are on their way somewhere with a box full of guns. A washed up boxer, a man trying to win his wife back from a controlling mother, an RAF officer with a cheating wife and a "gentleman" with no means of his own. Only a few weeks ago, "gentleman" Miles finds himself out of luck with his women and his money pit in-laws and, needing money so, when he meets the other three men, he sees a chance to take advance of their various needs.For a while back in the fifties, British cinema seemed to have enough grit and clout to it to almost be able to compete with the American market in regards crime thrillers (if not quite noirs); The Good Die Young is one of those that has a good try and is a pretty enjoyable piece even if it lacks the grit and tension of similar American products. The film opens with an intriguing set up but then jumps back to establish the story and characters and it is here where it becomes weak. The back stories are rather melodramatic and it doesn't fit well with what was meant to be a bit tougher and gripping; they are interesting enough to do the job but I must admit to feeling that they were a bit dragged out and unnecessarily long. However, if you make it through this main body of the film you'll get to an ending that is just what the film should have been throughout. I won't spoil it but it is enjoyably brutal, downbeat and gripping – "about time" was my thought when I realised that the film had gotten going.The cast do their best with the melodrama but the material isn't there for them and they are mixed. Harvey and Baker stand out with strong performances; Basehart is good but Ireland feels like he is just making up the numbers. Naturally Collins stands out today, and she is quite good but the melodrama is made better by Grahame, Ray and, to a lesser extent, Leighton. Of course the men are all much better in the proper crime side of the film and this is partly due to better and more atmospheric direction from writer/director Gilbert, who also injects the pace when it is required.Overall this is an average film mainly because the back story takes up far too much of the film, is too melodramatic and doesn't sit well with the tough tension promised in the first scene and delivered at the end. With the main trunk being rather plodding, the ending does feel a lot better mainly because you're grateful that the film has gotten going. Could have been great but is merely reasonably good; worth seeing for genre and period fans but will not impress a wider audience.