The Great Bank Robbery

CinematographyFred J. KoenekampEdited byGene MilfordMusic byNelson RiddleDistributed byWarner Bros.-Seven Arts98 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBox office$1.5 million (US/ Canada rentals)^[1]

The Great Bank Robbery is a 1969 Western comedy film from Warner Bros. directed by Hy Averback and written by William Peter Blatty, based on the novel by Frank O'Rourke. The movie had a soundtrack with songs by Jimmy Van Heusen.^[2]

Gold stolen by outlaws is stashed in the impenetrable bank of Friendly, a small town in Texas. A preacher, Rev. Pious Blue, is actually a thief. He and his associates, including partner Lyda Kebanov, plan to tunnel into the vault and blow it up with TNT, just as a Fourth of July celebration drowns out the noise.

There are complications. A number of rival gangs (which include Mexican bandits and a gunfighter called Slade) are also after the loot. Then there is Ben Quick of the Texas Rangers, a lawman out to find evidence confirming the corruption of banker and mayor Kincaid that is also inside the vault.

The reverend's band is successful, distracting the bank's guards by having Lyda pretend to be Lady Godiva, riding nude on a white horse, with just small flower pasties covering her nipples and groin. They intend to escape by hot-air balloon. The gold is too heavy for liftoff, however. Lyda volunteers to abandon ship, in part because she has fallen for Quick, who finds the proof he needs to convict Kincaid while the reverend and the gold fly safely away.

• Zero Mostel as Rev. Pious Blue
• Kim Novak as Sister Lyda Kebanov
• Clint Walker as Ranger Ben Quick
• Claude Akins as Slade
• Sam Jaffe as Brother Lilac Bailey
• Mako Iwamatsu (as Mako) as Secret Agent Fong
• Akim Tamiroff as Papa (Juan's father)
• Larry Storch as Juan
• John Anderson as Mayor Kincaid
• Elisha Cook, Jr. as Jeb (as Elisha Cook)
• Ruth Warrick as Mrs. Applebee
• John Larch as Sheriff of Friendly
• Peter Whitney as Brother Jordan Cass (tunneling)
• Norman Alden as The Great Gregory (balloonist)
• Grady Sutton as Rev. Simms
• John Fiedler as Brother Dismas Ostracorn(Explosives)

Zero Mostel uses the line "What we have here is a failure to communicate" which is similar to (and possibly a parody of or simply just a misquote of) a line from 1967's Cool Hand Luke. This line by Rev. Pious Blue is actually more often quoted than the original line and usually categorized as merely a misquote.^{[citation needed]} The railroad scenes were filmed on the Sierra Railroad in Tuolumne County, California.^[3]

Vincent Canby of The New York Times had nothing but disdain for the picture: "The Great Bank Robbery, the Western farce that opened yesterday at neighborhood theaters, is probably the least interesting movie of 1969 through this date. I hedge because there are several films I haven't seen, and because The Great Bank Robbery is so casually inept it can't support even negative superlatives."^[4]

Film historian Leonard Maltin seemed to agree: "...A total dud, hardly worthy of the writer who gave us A Shot in the Dark and The Exorcist. Be warned."^[5]

• List of American films of 1969

• The Great Bank Robbery at IMDb
• The Great Bank Robbery at AllMovie
• The Great Bank Robbery at Rotten Tomatoes