It's a dark and stormy night as five men pull off a daring train robbery of 10 million in gold. Led by the stoic Eddie Harris (Gene Raymond) they split the steal in three and head for LA to melt it down. Two of the transports are intercepted but the third reaches it's destination and is in the process of blowing town through an ingenious method (I believe later employed on the first show of Mission Impossible) when the LA Freeway interrupts.Plunder Road may well have been an ideal B in its day with its stripped down (72 minutes) pace and crosscutting between the divided mob. After taking in the better budgeted denser A pic this heist film immediately cut to the chase allowing the movie goer to exhale. Director Hubert Cornfield (Night of the Following Day) does not dally long with personality and character development as he expeditiously leaves them to their thoughts and the fact that they are all in for a huge payday.30s matinée idol Gene Raymond registers as the taciturn ringleader who lightens up once he feels he's in the clear. Chester Morris, Elisha Cook, Steven Ritch and Stafford Repp as societal marginals born to lose adequately deliver with few words. Cinematographer Ernie Haller gives the picture a good look while Irving Gert's music is a heavy handed brass attack that overwhelms in tense moments. Plunder Road does have some pot holes but it remains well paced with relatively benign criminals that has us feeling like the waitress in the diner who hopes in some way that they get away with it.

"Plunder Road" is a low budget crime film with a few familiar faces...and many unfamiliar ones. The leading men you might not be too familiar to you, as the once pretty Gene Raymond and Wayne MOrris are a bit older and more rugged in this film--and I actually think this makes them more believable and I liked their work late in their career. Another one of the crooks is Elisha Cook--a very familiar character actor.The story is pretty familiar because caper movies were VERY popular during that era. A group of masked robbers bump off a shipment of gold on a train and their planning is meticulous. However, true to most caper films, things start to fall apart during the getaway. The gang is split into teams and one by one, things start to happen to the teams.Overall, a well directed and interesting cheap film noir flick-- worth seeing if you like the genre and quite engaging. Not among the best of its type (such as "Asphalt Jungle", "The Killing", "Rififi" or "Grand Slam")....but still quite nice.

This is a driving movie. I don't mean compelling, I mean driving, as in trucks driving and driving, which takes up about an hour of the picture (it is 72 minutes long). It is about a train robbery by five pretty savvy dudes, among them Gene Raymond, Wayne Morris and Elisha Cook, Jr. We learn that they have been around the block, with some considerable jail time among them.And so, after the robbery they drive. Nothing of note happens except a few isolated incidents, wherein the group is reduced to two. The incidents are so innocuous that you hardly notice, so ordinary and lacking in tension is the storyline.The ending is fairly good, but by that time you have been so numbed by the preceding 68 minutes that it's a nice feeling to get the whole thing over with. It is a pretty good movie, and that's the best I can say for it. You know that old Show Biz song, "That's Entertainment"? I didn't hear it.

Plunder Road is an object lesson in what can be done with a low-budget and a stripped-down script. The opening moments, at night under a hard rain, are disorienting, swift, and all but silent. A gang of highwaymen has plotted to rob a train of its gold-bullion cargo. Successful, its members split off onto three separate routes to what they hope will be prosperous freedom. The movie follows them dispassionately as they individually reckon with their fates. This is a marvel of action and economy -- one of the most enjoyable offerings from late in the cycle of film noir.