Six Bridges to Cross

1955 film by Joseph Pevney

January 21, 1955 (1955-01-21)

Running time

96 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBox office$1.8 million (US)^[1]

Six Bridges to Cross or 6 Bridges to Cross is a 1955 American film noir crime film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Tony Curtis, George Nader and Julie Adams.^[2] Six Bridges to Cross is based upon the famous 1950 Great Brink's Robbery of Boston, Massachusetts in which the thieves made off with roughly $2.5 million.^[3]^[4]

Plot

Jerry Florea (Tony Curtis) is planning a heist. The story begins with the events which led a young Florea (Sal Mineo) to become a crook. One day he is shot during a robbery and as a result an amenable policeman and his wife take him under their wing.^[5] As a young man he deludes them, and pretends to no longer have criminal intent and even gets a job at the Brinks. They are unaware he is preparing to rob the establishment. It is only after he and his gang pull off the heist that Florea reconsiders his actions and attempts to make amends for the crime.

Cast

Tony Curtis as Jerry Florea
George Nader as Edward Gallagher
Julie Adams as Ellen Gallagher
Jay C. Flippen as Vincent Concannon
Sal Mineo as Jerry as a boy
Jan Merlin as Andy Norris
Richard Castle as Skids Radzevich
William Murphy as Red Flanagan
Kendall Clark as Mr. Sanborn
Don Keefer as Mr. Sherman
Harry Bartell as Father Bonelli
Tito Vuolo as Angie

Production

The screenplay for the film was written by Sydney Boehm, based on Joseph F. Dinneen's They Stole $25,000,000 – And Got Away with It. The film was shot on location in Boston.^[6]

Jeff Chandler was to play the lead but refused and was put on suspension by Universal.^[7]

A young Clint Eastwood auditioned for the film in May 1954 in his first real audition but was rejected by Pevney.^[8] The part of the young Florea was given to a 15-year-old Sal Mineo. Mineo had also successfully auditioned for a part in The Private War of Major Benson as a cadet colonel opposite Charlton Heston.^[9] Sammy Davis, Jr. was hired to sing the title track written by friend Jeff Chandler and Henry Mancini, recording it on December 2, 1954.^[10]^[11]^[12] The overall score was composed by Frank Skinner and Herman Stein but they went uncredited in the film for their contributions.

References

^ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1955', Variety Weekly, January 25, 1956
^ Murray, Raymond (15 July 1996). Images in the dark: an encyclopedia of gay and lesbian film and video. Plume. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-452-27627-7. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
^ Sandra Brennan (2012). "Six Bridges to Cross (1955)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
^ Baxter, John (1970). The gangster film. A. Zwemmer. p. 86. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
^ Langman, Larry; Finn, Daniel (1995). A guide to American crime films of the forties and fifties. Greenwood Press. p. 254. ISBN 9780313292651. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
^ Maltin, Leonard (4 October 1988). Leonard Maltin's TV movies and video guide. New American Library. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-451-15619-8. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
^ "Jeff Chandler Suspended at U-I". Los Angeles Times. May 21, 1954. p. A6.
^ McGilligan, Patrick (1999). Clint: The Life and Legend. London: Harper Collins. p. 63. ISBN 0-00-638354-8. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
^ Ellis, Chris; Ellis, Julie (27 July 2005). The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murder: Murder Played Out in the Spotlight of Maximum Publicity. Berghahn Books. p. 415. ISBN 978-1-57181-140-0. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
^ Billboard. 27 November 1954. p. 15. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
^ Haygood, Wil (7 October 2003). In black and white: the life of Sammy Davis, Jr. A.A. Knopf. p. 156. ISBN 9780375403545. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
^ Fishgall, Gary (30 September 2003). Gonna do great things: the life of Sammy Davis, Jr. Scribner. ISBN 978-0-7432-2741-4. Retrieved 14 January 2011.