5 Against the House (1955) User Reviews

A Robbery In Reno

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 12 August 2008]

5 Against The House is a stylish noir caper film that involves four Korean War Veterans and the girl friend of one of them in a heist against a Reno casino. It was directed by Phil Karlson and while it's a bit slow in developing when the action starts, it builds up to a good climax.

The four veterans are Guy Madison, Alvy Moore, Kerwin Matthews, and Brian Keith. They're in college on the GI Bill of Rights and being a bit older than the other students there and with a shared wartime bonding, they kind of keep to themselves.

After a night in Reno where they overhear an arresting cop with a suspect who tried to rob Harold's club there saying how impossible it was. That gives Kerwin Matthews who's the genius of the group an idea to plan the perfect crime.

The others mean it as a prank to give the money back, but Keith is not a well man having spent some time in the psycho ward at the Veteran's Administration. He means to keep the money and he brings a long a pistol to enforce his argument.

It's hard for Madison to say no to Keith, he saved his life in Korea. But Madison who is also romantically involved with Kim Novak resents her being roped in on the scheme.

Best in the film is Brian Keith who does a very good job in suggesting a fundamentally decent man who's been unhinged by his wartime experiences. You have to understand that in order to understand why the film ended as it did.

Novak looks fetching and lovely as always and gets a couple of inconsequential songs to sing, no doubt dubbed as they were in Pal Joey.

5 Against The House did no harm to any of the careers among the cast here. Especially that of Kim Novak who was being prepped to take Rita Hayworth's spot as Columbia Picture's new sex goddess.

He has a system you know!

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 19 May 2009]

Four college buddies are out in a Reno casino when they mistakenly almost get arrested for a failed robbery. Upon proving their innocence, they hear a cop saying that robbing this particular casino is nigh on impossible. This gets young Ronnie thinking that it actually can be done, and sure enough he comes up with a fool proof plan that should be played out as a joke robbery. However, after letting his pals in on the plan, one of them, Brick, an ex army loose cannon, wants to do it for real.

There are many good things about this Phil Karlson directed picture, things that made me particularly glad I paid no attention to the meagre rating on the IMDb and watched it with no expectation. The cast is very strong, Guy Madison, Brian Keith, Alvy Moore, a young pre swash buckling Kerwin Mathews and a sultry and gorgeous Kim Novak in only her second credited role. Location work at Lake Tahoe is easy on the eye and the story from John Barnwell (adapting from Jack Finney's novel) is a good one, with a kicker of an idea in how to rob a casino.

I think that newcomers to the film should prepare for a more offbeat picture than what the plot synopsis hints at. It certainly has got tense moments, courtesy in the main from Keith's borderline psycho, but it's practically a talky picture with flecks of humour right up to the finale, where it all comes together without histrionics or fanfare. Phil Karlson, with the awesome Scandal Sheet on his CV, appeared on the face of it to be a good choice to direct, but although he has done crime/adventure/romance films very well before, blending those genres into one film was asking a bit too much. It's not bad directing, it's just an odd fusion that never really comes off, and it possibly stops the film from breaking out to a bigger and more appreciative audience. Karlson remains, though, a director well worth reappraisals because he has some excellent credits on his CV that are well worth checking out.

Still, it's an oddity of sorts, and tagging it as a Noir picture is a bit of a stretch, but this is one that's definitely recommended for the pluses that do indeed far outweigh the minuses. 7/10

B heist film directed by Phil Karlson

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 2 September 2008]

Phil Karlson directed a lot of B movies and this one, "Five Against the House" is another one, released in 1955. It's notable for having Kim Novak in it just before she hit real stardom, and she's gorgeous. The other stars are Guy Madison, Brian Keith, Kerwin Mathews, and Alvy Moore. The story concerns Korea War vets in college on the GI bill who become involved in the heist of a Reno casino. It's supposed to be a lark by one of the men, Ronnie (Mathews). just to see if it could be done; he plans on returning the money. Lark or not, Al (Madison) opts out, but travels to Reno with his girlfriend Kay (Novak) and the rest of the guys as he and Kay are planning to be married there. However, the psychologically unstable Brick (Keith) decides to do the heist for real and forces his buddy Al to go along with it. Brick saved Al's life in Korea, and Al doesn't feel he can refuse him, even though the plan now involves Kay.

Though the end of the film had some excitement, the rest of it drags. The acting is adequate. Though the guys had served in Korea and entered college late, as far as I know, the Korean war lasted three years and not ten. With the exception of 29-year-old Mathews, the rest of the actors are in the 33-35 year-old range. Madison's career started out promisingly, but he became best known as Wild Bill Hickok on television and eventually made many Italian westerns; physical ailments kept him from working often past 1975 - his last credit is 8 years before his death in 1996. The other actors worked mainly in television except for the handsome Kerwin Mathews, who found career success in another type of film genre before his retirement circa 1978.

What the film has going for it is a really neat atmosphere. It was filmed on location in Lake Tahoe and Reno, and that part of it really pays off.

Of mild interest.

Seven Against the House

[degatesjr · 17 January 2007]

Kim Novak is of course terrific (she rarely phoned one in), and it's an interesting pre-star turn, meaning before PICNIC and VERTIGO, but the rest of the cast is pretty interesting, and particularly Brian Keith---Keith did a lot of 50's B-picture work that's worth watching, if you can find it. The real reason to see this picture is because it's a Phil Karlson. Karlson is one of those guys like Don Siegel, who came up in the studio system just before television. Early live TV produced people like Frankenheimer and Arthur Penn and Paddy Chayevsky, but there were already guys in the trenches like Siegel and Karlson, who got the chance to direct because they could do it quick and cheap, but make a picture look like it didn't come from Poverty Row. (See, for example, Clint Eastwood's PLAY MISTY FOR ME. Eastwood got his shot by rock-bottom budgeting, a lesson he might have learned from Siegel.) Karlson is due for a re-evaluation, along with, say, Budd Boetticher and Burt Kennedy. Siegel seems to be getting his due, not that he couldn't use an occasional boost. But watch this, and maybe THE PHENIX CITY STORY (not a misspelling), and tell me Karlson can't do it tense.

Offbeat heist movie not really Karlson's meat and potatoes

[bmacv · 6/10 · 19 July 2002]

The boyish refulgence that brought him to movies over a decade earlier long since dimmed, Guy Madison has settled into William Holdenish good looks. Since Hollywood already had a Holden, and since Madison's acting skills were adequate at best, he no longer can hold the screen (this part came to him after a string of roles as Wild Bill Hickock). Luckily, Phil Karlson's 5 Against The House is an ensemble piece – an offbeat heist movie.

Madison and Brian Keith are Korea veterans attending `Midwestern University' on the G.I. Bill; their buddies are wiseacre Alvy Moore and sobersides Kerwin Mathews. Mathews (whose faint accent stays a mystery) yearns to do something extraordinary to make him stand out, and dreams up a hare-brained scheme (no more than a prank, since he plans to give the money back) to rob a casino in Reno, Nevada. They're all in on the plan except Madison, who nonetheless joins them on the road west with his girl Kim Novak, to get married. When Madison tumbles to the set-up, he tries to stop it.

The fly in the ointment, alas, is Keith, who spent time in the psychiatric ward for shell shock. He takes the prank dead seriously and intimidates the others to go along with him. Tricked out in Wild-West outfits and false beards, and wheeling a jerry-rigged money cart with a tape recorder inside, they hit the casino....

Phil Karlson falls short of top form here. The college hijinks are not this director's usual meat and potatoes, so he takes a long time getting any rhythm going. Then the heist itself, and the tensions among the robbers, seem oddly defanged, at least for Karlson; he seems to have fallen into a character study rather than an action movie, and unsure how to play it. Novak croons a couple of songs, and nobody gets killed. That's well and good, but a far cry from 99 River Street, or Kansas City Confidential, or The Phenix City Story, hard-core Karlson all. 5 Against The House remains in a no-man's-land between film noir and the light-hearted caper movies, like Ocean's 11, that would usher in the 1960s.

Black and White 1950s thriller with some lighter moments.

[tynesider · 6/10 · 26 September 2007]

This is a Columbia picture starring, according to the credits, Kim Novak, Guy Madison, Brian Keith, Kerwin Matthews and Alvy Moore It also throws in William Conrad, later of Cannon TV fame.

The film begins with four ex-army buddies on a visit to a casino town, who both there and later back at college, spend much of their time wisecracking. But Keith exhibits his 'psycho' tendencies in a night club brawl and we learn that these were induced by his experiences in the Korean War. Then its back to college where a fresher (Jack Dimond) is the butt of some humorous pranks.

In the second half of the picture the emphasis changes to thriller as three of the four plan a supposedly foolproof heist at a casino, but intend to return the money, having once proved it can be done.

Keith is however back in violent mode and Madison and girlfriend Novak are forced to become unwilling participants in the robbery. Conrad, as a casino employee, is induced at gunpoint to help with the heist and the strong wartime links between the four are put under great strain.

This picture is neither one thing nor another and those led to expect a light hearted heist film by its early light hearted approach will be surprised at how it turns out.

Worth seeing for an early Kim Novak role and for a heist picture set in Reno and not Las Vegas.

I sure wanted to enjoy this one more than I actually did.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 22 June 2020]

Generally, heist films are among the best and most reliable movies you can find. After all, there are TONS of great heist movies and very few bad ones. Among the wonderful heist films are RIFIFI, OCEAN'S ELEVEN, GRAND SLAM and so many others. So, it's not surprising I'd see "5 Against the House". Sadly, however, it was an exception...a film that really failed to deliver and was disappointing.

The film starts in Reno, Nevada...and four college friends* are out enjoying one of the casinos. Then, for so much of the movie, they return to college (where they NEVER seem to go to classes) and nothing happens!! It's only later that one of them, Brick (Brian Keith) decides that they should return to Reno and rob the casino.

The film is a bit mistake in many ways. The ending is unrealistic and unsatisfying, the characters a bit annoying and glib and the story takes forever to actually get going. The only plus was a young and gorgeous Kim Novak...who is simply amazing to watch.

*The four would-be robbers are clearly all in their 30s yet are in college. This is NOT a case of miscasting but the men are supposed to be veterans going to school on the GI Bill...and during the 1940s and 50s, many older and non-traditional students existed.

Low-Key Phil Karlson Casino Heist Thriller with Guy Madison

[zardoz-13 · 6/10 · 25 February 2010]

"Hornet's Nest" director Phil Karlson helmed many memorable films, including "Kansas City Confidential," "The Phenix City Story," "Walking Tall," "The Texas Rangers," "Key Witness" and "Frame Up," during his 31-year career, but his lame 1955 casino caper "5 Against the House," with Guy Madison and Kim Novak, doesn't qualify as one of those films. This 84-minute, black & white crime melodrama lacks substance, and the robbery itself is nothing to rhapsodize about in the greater scheme of heist movies. None of the usual characters that populate these dramas appears in this Columbia Pictures release. Essentially, four college age students—two Korean War veterans on the G.I. Bill and two roommates try to steal a million dollars from Harold's Club in Reno during a city-wide celebration. Indeed, they don't get away with the crime, but the initial plans that the mastermind concocted had little to do with getting away with the transgression. Karlson stages this modest crime story with his customary aplomb, but he is forced to stretch out the rather lackluster screenplay by "In the Heat of the Night" scenarist Stirling Silliphant, William Bowers of "The Gunfighter," and John Barnwell which was based on Jack Finney's magazine novel. Yes, this is the same Finney who wrote the immortal sci-fi classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." The dialogue is pretty decent and there is one rather clever gag.

Boredom serves as the stimulus for the crime. The heroes have just gone back to Midwestern University after spending a summer at work. Al Mercer (Guy Madison of "Till the End of Time") and Brick (Brian Keith of "Arrowhead") are attending college to obtain law degrees. Al and Brick served in the infantry in Korea, and Brick saved Al's life. Unfortunately, Brick came out of the war with a combat injury that makes him susceptible psychotic episodes. He nearly beats a younger man to death during an argument. This brief close-quarter, hand-to-hand combat scene is beautifully staged and "Women's Prison" lenser Lester White does a superb job with his pictorial compositions. Al and Brick are friends of Roy (Alvy Moore of the CBS-TV sitcom "Green Acres") and rich boy Ronnie (Kerwin Mathews of "Barquero") and they operate as a quartet. During their return journey to college, our protagonists stopover in Reno at Harold's Club and witness an attempted robbery. Actually, the authorities are on the verge of arresting Roy and Ronnie as accomplices of the anonymous thief (Frank Gerstle of "Between Heaven and Hell") because they appeared to be in on the crime.

This incident gives Ronnie an idea for a 'foolproof' plan to rob the casino. He constructs a cart like those that the employees trundle into and out of the counting rooms. Essentially, he places a large but portable reel-to-reel tape player inside the cart and connects it to a concealed button in the handle so that it sounds as if there is a man hidden in the small compartment. They smuggle their cart into the casino during a celebration and coerce a casino employee, Eric Berg (William Conrad of "The Killers"), into helping them. Basically, Berg believes the heroes that there is a small man armed with a gun who will burst from the cart and start shooting if Berg doesn't comply with their orders. Complications arise from Brick's violent episode with another college student during a vicious fight and Al recommends that Brick check back into the hospital, but Brick refuses to go quietly.

Meantime, Ronnie devises his plan to hold up Harold's Club, but the catch is that he will return the money. Once Brick gets wind of the crime, he has no desire to get the money back. While all of this is transpiring, Al has fallen in love with an initially reluctant Kay Greylek (sexy bombshell actress Kim Novak of "Pushover") who sings in a nightclub. Ronnie's plan requires four people and Al and Kay accompany them to Reno with no idea what is in store for them. Of course, everything works out in the end and nobody dies. Ronnie's plan works like a charm, but the police are on to them because Kay has contacted them. The heist takes place near the end of the action with about 15 minutes devoted to the actual crime. It appears that Karlson shot the action on location in Reno, and they showcase an interesting as well as elaborate car parking gantry that scoops up a vehicle with huge metal tusks, hoists it up vertically to a parking space in a high-rise garage and parks it. Motorists are not allowed to ride up in their cars. This gadget is more interesting than anything else in the film.

What sets "5 Against the House" from most crime pictures of its day is the way that Karlson depicts the actual workings of the crime. Early on in the action, Ronnie buys a disposable car and trailer using cold cash so that nobody can trace the vehicles back to him. Earlier, the Production Code forbade the depiction of a crime because the censors feared that such a depiction might inspire impressionable viewers into attempting the crime. Naturally, our heroes are good kids. Brick cannot help himself and the police capture him in the garage after Al talks him down. The actual crime itself with the tape player in the cart is rather far-fetched, but even this crime seems like it foreshadows the far more elaborate crime that Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin orchestrated in director Lewis Milestone's "Ocean's Eleven." Karlson and his scenarists provide us with a glimpse of casino security; we see the guards roaming the catwalks in the gambling house and peering through slots over the gaming and cashier areas that are concealed behind mirrors. Altogether, "5 Against the House" never generates much in the way of either momentum or tension until the commission of the crime. You won't feel your palms getting sweaty or your mouth dry in anticipation of the danger involved.

5 Against the Snoozer

[osloj · 4/10 · 2 December 2015]

Five Against the House is a 1955 flick that is really peculiar, on the one hand it wants to be an inarticulate college film, with dumb remarks and idiotic hazing, and on the other, a heist film with touches of noir.

The acting is horrible and the script is no better. The ending, entirely pointless.

Four college chums (played by 30 year olds), after wasting the first hour talking about girls, fights and cigarettes, decide to rob a Nevada casino, the Harold's Club.

It has Brian Keith from the film noir Tight Spot (1955), which was average, and the film noir Nightfall (1957) which was a bit better. In this he just smokes and then goes nuts a few times.

Kim Novak, from the good 1954 film noir Pushover, is hot, but doesn't do much. We don't even see her in a tub or anything.

Kerwin Mathews (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and Jack the Giant Killer (1962)) is annoying, as he doesn't have any heavy gravitas here. He's horrible.

Add Alvy Moore (a comic actor from Green Acres) who is probably an awful choice, as all he does is make stupid comments throughout and you wish he would get run over by a steam train.

William Conrad is wasted as a casino 'money cart pusher' who gets taken in a really stupid way. If you want to know how good William Conrad could be, just take a look at The Killers (1946). He plays a hit man enforcer, along with the equally fantastic Charles McGraw (The Narrow Margin (1952)). The opening to The Killers (1946) is absolutely superb.

For car buffs, you'll probably like the "automated parking garage" (see Bowser, Pigeon Hole and Roto Park systems). That's about it, nothing adds up much in here.

For 1950's heist movies, stick with Armored Car Robbery (1950), The Killing (1956), or Kansas City Confidential (1952).

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 19 June 2010]

Four carefree young men stop off in Reno, Nevada, for a little down time on their way back to Midwestern University, where they are students. The four are extremely handsome Guy Madison, whose girl, Kim Novak, is waiting for him back in school; bulky Brian Keith; whiz-kid and wealthy Ketwin Mathews; and funny-looking, wisecracking sidekick Alvy Moore.

If all of them look a bit older than most college kids it's because at least three of them have served in the Korean War. As a matter of fact, Keith brought the wounded Madison back from an exposed position and saved his life. Actually, all of them had served in World War II -- Madison in the Coast Guard, Mathews in the Air Force, and Keith and Moore in the Marine Corps. I mention their ages only in passing because it doesn't detract from the story.

And it's quite a story, too, not nearly as bad as might be imagined. Mathews proclaims himself bored. He wants to be a man of action and pull something off for the record. When they relaxed in Reno, Mathews developed a plan to rob one of the casino's, claiming it was foolproof. The money would all be given back afterward. He needs the others to carry out his scheme but they scoff.

The movie really belongs to Brian Keith, and he handles it well. He is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and, when crowded, has an alarming tendency to beat the crap out of the man who's bothering him, and Keith has the muscles to do it. When Kevin Mathews explains the details of his hypothetical armed robbery, the camera stays on Keith's face. And his features morph insensibly from amused disbelief to something resembling a grim fascination, richly colored with lunacy.

Keith more or less forces the others to go through with the plan, taking Kim Novak along for the ride. The robbery goes awry, as all robberies must in 1955, and Keith is cornered by the police until he is finally talked down by Madison.

Phil Karlson's direction is efficient if not very subtle. Karlson seemed attracted to (and good at) stories involving unexpected explosions of violence, such as "Walking Tall." But he allows Keith to go goggle-eyed with rage as he's beating another college kid half to death.

The writers included Sterling Silliphant who could do a fine job of adapting material for the screen, even if, at the same time, corrupting it, as he did in "From Here To Eternity." There's a scene in the script that should throw up fireworks of disbelief in any sophisticated audience. It's the climax, when Madison reminds Keith of their experiences together on the battlefield. "Remember the tracer bullets? How they turned the snow red?" Keith is cornered, sweating, trembling, half out of his gourd, and holding a gun on Madison, repeating the phrase, "I'm gonna kill you." And what does Madison do? He does what EVERY exemplary cretin does in these situations. He talks calmly but continues to advance on Keith, pushing him closer to the edge. And Madison's soothing reminiscences last about sixty seconds of screen time, then Keith collapses into sobs.

Guy Madison was plucked out of the crowd and turned into a romantic lead strictly because he looked good. His nose, in particular, is unforgettable. During the robbery Madison is disguised by a fake beard but nothing could camouflage that ski-slope nose. That aside, he is an unprepossessing actor, about as good as you or I would be if we were chosen from the crowd. Well, not as good as I'd be, but as good as you. Yes. I gave a sterling performance in "Weeds." I was the Corrections Officer that was left flattened on the floor, as if by steamroller, after the riot scene. No one has ever been flatter.

Brian Keith has always been a reliable performer. He never achieved Class A stardom but I can't remember a single film he's appeared in that he torpedoed. A shame about his death.

Anyway, this isn't the cheap B movie that you might think. It has no bankable stars, Phil Karlson wasn't a big name, and it's in black and white. Yet it hits its mark and does what it's supposed to do with lucidity.

The idea was good, but the build up took forever.

[thethirdtear · 5/10 · 7 August 2001]

This movie, 5 Against the House, had an interesting tag line which is why I saw it. However, I found that the build up of the story line and the build up of the characters took forever! Once the plot got going though, about thirty-five minutes in, the story took off from there and held my attention until the end. This movie is good if you are looking for an obscure film noir to view, other than that, pass on it.

Harolds Club or Bust

[tomquick · 9/10 · 23 August 2015]

The film was not that interesting for story but completely engaging as history. It documents the allure of Reno when it was the world's casino capitol. Some of the bits and pieces:

-Harolds Club inside and out. Today the exterior mural is at the rodeo grounds between Reno and Sparks. The club itself is a vacant lot next to Harrahs. The interesting parking garage, scene of most of the final action, is also gone.

-A Harolds Club billboard is passed on the drive from Midwestern to the heist.

-University of Nevada Reno (Midwestern University in the film). Nice outdoor winter shots of buildings and Manzanita Lake.

-The Union Pacific crossing on Virginia Street. Today the tracks are 20 feet below grade and pass under. In 1955 the line was a visible connection to the real world far away. The wall of accelerating passenger coaches effectively ends the heist.

-Harold Smith. He has 2 lines and puts on his glasses to examine a slot machine while Guy Madison waits outside the vault. Smith was proud of his role in the film, and discusses it in his autobiography.

All this is well documented in postcards, stills and old 8mm tourist film from back in the day. But this is the best quality view of Reno when it was still a collection of family gambling businesses that grew beyond anyone's expectations.

A unique one but not a noir

[Katz5 · 6/10 · 12 November 2021]

This movie is included in one of the Columbia "Noir" DVD sets released in the early '00s. It is a rather fascinating movie but not a noir. In fact if anything it's a strange hybrid of musical and precursor to the "Ocean's" flicks (both the original Rat Pack version and the later movies with George Clooney and friends).

Four buddies in their late 20s to early 30s are law school roommates who are in college thanks to the GI Bill and their service during the Korean War. On a weekend trip to Reno, one of the students starts to hatch a plan to rob a casino of a million dollars - as a psychology experiment. He plans to return the money, as he explains to his confused roommates. But one in the group, a short-tempered guy named Brick, thinks the idea has promise, although he doesn't intend on returning the money to the casino.

Brick is played by Brian Keith, next to Kim Novak the best known actor in this movie. Before his stint on TV as the loving Uncle Bill on Family Affair, and then teaming up with Burt Reynolds for a few movies in the '70s and '80s, Keith was a character actor with a knack for playing heavies. In this movie, he's a vet who suffers from PTSD. When he can control it, he's easygoing and joking along with buddies and picking up women. But once the trauma sets in, he can become a monster.

Kim Novak is the best known face in the movie, and she has a rather thankless role as the night club singing girlfriend of one of the guys. She isn't given much to do.

The movie has some admirable things to say about vets suffering from PTSD; despite his illness, Brick prevails in the movie and it has a generally upbeat ending. This is no noir.

The on-location setting of Reno is interesting and events leading up to the caper have noir elements, but the lighting is neutral and as mentioned, the music rather inappropriate. Novak even breaks out into song during a pivotal moment for her character.

The DVD remaster is good and this is probably the most upbeat (in the end) of all of the movies in the set. But don't expect anything really riveting.

Great moments but lots of awkward filler...but some cool early Nevada gambling!

[secondtake · 5/10 · 3 August 2010]

5 Against the House (1955)

Let's try to give this the best angle: the last half hour is terrific.

Before that is a lot of off and on development. The four hapless, likable college chaps are a kind of wobbly precursor to the "Ocean's Eleven," the 1960 casino classic (also a bit wobbly, actually, if you watch it again, but still a classic). The casino where this one begins is a vintage gem, an old style, small town joint (Reno, in 1955, was a small city), with guns on the wall and general lack of swank. It's great. And there's Kim Novak, not for her appearance or her singing (both were soon to be talked about), but simply for her screen presence, her higher level of professionalism. And she sings to some smooth easy band music. Novak was almost unknown--she had appeared in a sleeper noir called "Pushover" the previous year, but it was later in 1955 she starred in her breakout films, "Pal Joey" and "The Man with the Golden Arm". Finally, among the four lead males, Brian Keith, mostly known for decades of television work, is a surprisingly powerful figure, making the most of what he has to work with.

That's the extent of it, and Novak can't hold up the whole movie (especially all the parts she's not in--her role is relatively small). The chummy joking between the boys is weak stuff, including the college scenes, but these are meant to tap into the growing collegiate population (a full decade after WWII, college was becoming a far more normal step after high school). The initial crime incident with its interaction with the cops is patently unconvincing. And then there is the way the movie is patched together in separate segments. The first, fun road trip suddenly turns into a series of unexplained romances, which leads to the main plot again.

Why is this considered a film noir? Well, it actually has one key element, the soldier returned from war trying to cope with American mainstream life, only now the war is the Korean War, which changes both the romance and depth of the situation, at least historically. And there is, eventually, a full blown criminal aspect. In fact, the last half hour is tightly made, and if the gimmick is a bit of a stretch, it's all well done, and even if you don't like the movie overall, you'll really find the ending has a great feel to it, with lots of great night stuff. Reno back then was a neon wonderland, very cool!

First Rate "Buddy" Picture

[dougdoepke · 14 August 2008]

Uneven heist film. Making 30-somethings Madison and Keith into college students is a bit of a stretch. But I guess pairing them with the youthful Moore and Mathews presented a problem that a college dorm room could solve. Screenplay is by the celebrated TV writer Stirling Silliphant who, nonetheless, can't seem to script a line without a wise-guy quip. It's clever, but does get tiresome.

The movie has two things going for it. First is an absolutely superb performance by Brian Keith. Few actors could get more mileage out of a squint and a cigarette than this low-key tough guy. His final descent into battle-shock madness is both persuasive and oddly touching. The entire movie turns on an ability to convey the required changes and he brings them off beautifully. The other plus is the location photography in Reno. It's entertaining to watch the crowds milling around the casinos, circa 1955. How the production crew got the crowds to act so natural, without acknowledging the camera, amounts to a real feat. Also, the parking garage makes for good staging, but apparently is a commercial novelty that never caught on.

At the time, Columbia's head Harry Cohn was promoting Novak into the studio's newest sex goddess. Novak is okay in the role, but unfortunately her scenes with Madison slow down the pacing. Her role here looks like a rather awkward add-on to the main plot. In fact the heart of the film is neither the casino heist nor the Madison-Novak romance. Rather, the emotional center is the solid bond between the two Korean war vets. The chemistry between the two older men strongly portrays the kind of special kinship forged only in combat

Certainly director Phil Karlson knows his way around action movies as proved by his gripping Phenix City Story. I suspect that had he a freer hand here, a leaner, sharper, more coherent movie would have resulted. As it is, the 90 minutes is entertaining, but not front rank. As a heist movie, it's so-so; as a buddy film, it's first rate. (In passing-- Looks like the producers of Oceans 11 {1960} sat through this film more than once.)

Post WWII GIs go to college and the Harold's Club casino in Reno in this handsomely done noir.

[cgvsluis · 7/10 · 18 June 2023]

This was an unusual film noir, that has an interesting crime, but is more noteworthy for its history.

The story is about four veterans who are home from the war and taking advantage of the G. I. bill to get a college education. Al, Brick, Roy and Ronnie are a tight knit group, no less for their shared experience serving our country overseas, but also being older and trying to navigate college amongst younger and more innocent kids. The film starts on a school break with the four friends taking a little trip to blow off some steam in Reno. They end up at Harold's Club...which is noisy and packed (wonderful film footage of this famous casino both inside and out, they had an elevator car park where man operated lifts moved your car into spots in a tightly packed vertical garage).

Once they return to campus we get a taste of their college life...including some of the extracurricular activities like a nightclub where Al's lovely girlfriend, played by the young and fresh on the scene Kim Novak, sings. Then, thanks to their visit to Harold's and the taunt that no one could rob it, Ronnie comes up with a fool proof plan to rob Harold's only to return the money...just to prove it can be done.

It's a fairly simple plan that involves a recording on a reel to reel (another little bit of history), the manufacturing of a money cart like those used at Harold's, and the Wild West costumes which will blend in to their frontier days an annual Wild West event held at Harold's.

The costumes are great and the history (including dealing with PTSD) even better. Kim Novak is in fine form and worth seeing...also, this film introduced me to Guy Madison. He was incredibly handsome and did a wonderful job playing the role of Al...the level headed one, who had a bright future to look forward to. I am looking forward to checking out more films starting Guy Madison...the rising star in the 1950's.

This is a big recommendation from me, although I would call it noir-light as it doesn't seem to have done of the elements that you might expect in a film noir film. I would recommend this to fans of heist films, WWII buffs, history buffs, and fans of casinos or the casino lifestyle...oh! And Kim Novak fans, of course.

That Dress Actually Does Sing!

[atlasmb · 6/10 · 24 July 2022]

Four veterans attending college on the G. I. bill grow bored and decide to pull off the heist of a Reno casino for fun, just because someone said it couldn't be done. But the plan evolves into something more sinister when one of the buddies has other ideas.

The four primary actors do a fine job with the film's mixture of comedy and drama, but the script is uneven. And it tries to marry a jazzy score with square, Midwestern values and serious psychological issues.

The best part of the film is Kim Novak, who plays the girlfriend of one student. She sings at a nightclub and generally slinks through the scenery.

Brian Keith plays the collegian with the neuroses. He is also supposed to be a ladies' man. He overplays both parts.

But the black-and-white cinematography is good. And Novak's singing voice is dubbed by Jo Ann Grier in a perfect match.

There are much better heist movies. This film shouldn't really be considered a heist film. And the gang isn't really a gang.

So-so

[ryancm · 4/10 · 23 November 2009]

This so called "film noir" isn't up to the best of them. Interesting premise that takes forever to get going. Once it does, it's an OK sit through, but forgettable as well. The heist is the basis of the movie and it's quite implausible in the way it's carried out. What were security guys in the two-way mirror looking at anyway? It was obvious what was going on. Oh well, it was just a movie with a point...I guess.

Brian Keith saved the film as he was excellent as the disturbed buddy of the other three guys. Kim Novak shines in one of her early roles. Luckily she was able to snag better roles as her career bloomed. Kerwin Mathews and Guy Madison did as best they could the way their roles were written. The one annoying thing was Aly Moore as the wise-cracker buddy. Wish he would have been left out entirely or maybe bumped off before the movie got too far along. A truly atrocious performance and I can see why his career was regulated to bits as his stint in THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS in a bit trying to try a fast one on Mitzi Gaynor.

five against the house

[mossgrymk · 6/10 · 26 August 2022]

Somewhat standard heist pic, (not a noir, in my opinion, despite what Mr. Muller avers), that features a wonderfully twisted turn by Brian Keith as a Korean War vet with PTSD and some great location shooting in 50s Reno, including the University of Nevada standing in for "Midwestern U", but which is rather slackly paced (unusual for noted action director Phil Karlson) with the heist taking way too long to be set in motion. Also annoying is the too talky screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, one of the great diarreah of the typewriter men in Hollywood, and William Bowers, obviously brought in by the producers to wipe up Silliphant and falling down on the job. Acting beyond Keith is a problem, as well. Muller was complimentary about Kim Novak's performance but I found it serviceable at best as was Guy Madison as her boyfriend. Scenes with these two are by far the dullest in the film, although Alvy Moore, the compulsive jokester, ninety percent of whose quips fall well short of funny, also tries patience. Give it a C plus, mostly for Keith, in my opinion one of the truly under rated character actors in 50s/60s Hollywood, (nothing close to a bad performance or an Oscar nomination).

A heist movie but not a good one.

[MOscarbradley · 2/10 · 24 October 2020]

A heist movie but not a good one. Phil Karlson was the director so you had the right to expect more but saddled with a dreadful script and poor performances all round he couldn't do anything to save "5 Against the House". For starters, the title is misleading as there's really only one against the huose, psychotic Korean veteran Brian Keith. The other four are Guy Madison, (looking more like William Holden than ever), Kerwin Mathews, Alvy Moore and Kim Novak, (looking gorgeous but not doing much in the way of acting; even her singing is dubbed), and although it was Mathews who came up with the daft plan to rob a Reno casino they didn't really mean to keep the money. In fact, Madison and Novak were in the dark about the whole thing until the very last minute, (yes, it's as silly as it sounds). There is a trickle of excitement at the end but not enough to keep you awake. By the time the robbery comes around you will probably have drifted into a deep sleep and if you're lucky you might even be dreaming you're watching "Rififi" or "The Killing" instead.

Great idea somewhat ruined with some unwanted drama

[jordondave-28085 · 6/10 · 31 March 2023]

(1955) 5 Against the House CRIME DRAMA

Adapted from the magazine by Jack Finney with "5 Against The House" refers to the five students from the same college. With the matured one of the bunch Al (Guy Madison), the injured ex war vet with a head injury Brick (Brian Keith), the funnyman Roy(Alvy Moore) and the yuppie Ronnie (Kerwin Mathews) and finally, Al's girlfriend, Kay (Kim Novak). When Ronnie becomes motivated to devise a plan to rob a particular casino joint they attended at the opening. Before manipulating the others to participate with good intentions of returning the money back if they have successfully stolen it.

Daring and sophisticated with some good intentions that sometimes can go wrong, if it involves others.

Doesn't Really Go With The 'Film Noir' Label

[ccthemovieman-1 · 4/10 · 30 July 2010]

The last 25 minutes are good, since this is considered a film noir, but the first hour of this movie is pretty lame. Make that "very lame." It's as if they tried to make a comedy about this heist story. Some of the dialog is humorous and clever but most of it is just plain dumb. Why Columbia Pictures added this to their excellent "Film Noir Volume One" set is beyond me. It's the only poor movie in the package.

One of the few redeeming qualities of the movie, at least for us males, is a chance to ogle Kim Novak, who began to make a name for herself the year this film came out.

Brian Keith is fairly intense as "Brick," the ex-Korean soldier with mental problems but even he is fairly boring most the movie. The rest of the cast looks and sounds more "Gilligan's Island" than actors in a supposed film noir.

It was doubly surprising because director Phil Karlson didn't usually offer up "fluff" like this. This light-hearted wink-wink comedy-drama was not his normal style.

A very pleasant surprise.

[punishmentpark · 8/10 · 10 October 2013]

Somehow I mistakenly thought that this was the original version of 'Ocean's Eleven' from 2001, but that would actually be the film of the (duh) same name from 1960... no wonder this was a surprise, eh?

Anyway, this is a wonderful heist film, though the heist isn't really the center of it. There's a long dramatic build up to it about a group of college friends who struggle (some more than others) with their current lives and concerns for their futures, with lots of dialogue, and it is - thank God - not crammed with superfluous music when one would pretty much expect it; something that occurs so much in more recent films - phooey!

Then there is a great cast of (to me) unfamiliar faces, except for the amazing Kim Novak, who even gets to sing^ a few classy tunes - woof!

'5 against the house' is really something else, maybe not for everyone - you should certainly not expect a lot of action - but it has a story that is original and gripping, although the (comedic) parts with the freshman student felt somewhat out of place. I really loved that use of that special kind of parking, too, by the bye!

A big 8 out of 10; highly recommended!

^ Oh, and Kim Novak didn't actually sing those songs as I found here on IMDb, but what the hey.

They got 5 on it

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 30 September 2022]

No pun intended - it seems that 5 is a magic number. Or not of course. But back to the source and something I have not read - the novel/book this is based on. Especially the ending seems to have been cut short in the movie - was way more elaborate as someone who should know tells us (audio commentary).

Some really interesting actors in this and some interesting throwback to gambling and security that was used back then. Some really great scenes ensue, but there are some scenes that fill .. like fillers (no pun intended). The pacing may not be the best or may feel way too slow for some. Most of the time that is. Question is if that ("short") finale is enough for you to put this over the top for you ... planned out and all that.

Foolhardy Heist Flick

[krdement · 3/10 · 12 August 2008]

This film is mediocre at best. Easily the best thing about it is the luscious Kim Novak. The next best thing is Brian Keith, who does a good job with a character that is not drawn quite clearly enough. His back story is simply painted with brush strokes that are too broad to really clarify the ebb and flow of his tormented character's motivations. But both Novak and Keith turn in decent performances in a forgettable film.

The first half of the film is like a fore-runner of Animal House, featuring 4 wisecracking law students. Some of the lines (especially their overtures to the ladies) are really quite entertaining. It is kind of a mystery to me why I didn't find them funnier. Perhaps because the characters take themselves just a little too seriously - not quite tongue-in-cheek? Perhaps the absence of a mood-setting soundtrack? Anyhow, some of the dialog makes this part of the film rather interesting as a light comedy.

Then everything shifts into pseudo-thriller mode for the second half of the movie. All of the repartee is replaced with dialog about the "fool-proof" plan to rob a casino in Reno. This, too is described in the broadest of terms, so that you don't really have any clear idea of this great, "foolproof" plan until it is actually unfolding. After the buildup, I was expecting something pretty slick and elaborate (in fact, the film seems to also vaguely foreshadow Ocean's Eleven). Boy, was I disappointed! The "foolproof" plan is laughable. It isn't foolproof but foolhardy! It is totally incapable of deceiving anybody in the casino - but, of course it does. Casino security men, behind two-way mirrors in the ceiling are oblivious to the fact that their money man on the floor is being escorted everywhere by the same 3 "cowboys." And they fail to notice the introduction of a second money cart while the first is "parked" at a blackjack table and left unattended. The fact that the money man just pushes his cart around, unguarded, in a crowded casino to begin with is just absurd!

This movie would have been much better if it had been a light comedy from beginning to end rather than attempting to switch genres in the middle.

Actually, the absolute best thing about this film is the casino's pick-and-pull car "parking" mechanism. I guess such things actually existed... Truly a thing to behold!