This week’s Weekend Movie is a heist movie with a bit of a difference. It stars Country music legend Johnny Cash as an experienced and violent criminal who gets involved in a plot to rob a bank but to do so via stealth not overt upfront force.
This movie, ‘Door to Door Maniac’ (also shown as ‘Five Minutes to Die’ in some markets) was made in 1961. It is set in California and it shows that by the light in the exterior shots in this movie. The bright harsh shadows of the California sun are used to good effect in this movie and provide contrast to some of the studio shots which are much more flatly and conventionally lit for the time.
One thing I like about this movie is the change of pace and camerawork that separates, especially in the early part of the movie, the bad characters and their scenes from the good characters, they are filmed subtley differently and not obviously and hamfistedly. However, not to give any spoilers, the plot of this film revolves around a home invasion which is linked to a plot to extort money from a bank via the captive’s husband. Another thing that lifts this movie is how some of the ostensibly good chararcters show themselves to be much more morally grey than they are at first painted. Also the issue of how others behave differently when in extremis was also well handled and filmed. The ending has a good set of twists with the ending leaving much to think about in connection to one of the main character’s experiences in the movie plot. There’s a lot of camerwork in this movie that shows some of the stylistic changes from the more static camera style of earlier eras to the more mobile camerawork of the later 60;s and onwards. The filmakers were also not shy of using focus tricks and extreme close ups that could have come from Hitchcock and they work well in this. The Jazz soundtrack works very well with this movie as well and I say that even as someone who is not overly interested in Jazz.
This is a good and gripping movie with some interesting twists, turns and what will be for some a satisfying resolution. Johnny Cash puts in a remarkably good performance as the increasingly nasty robber and Cay Forester as the object of his worsening twisted attentions shines in this movie. They are both very well suited for these roles. Cash turned out to be a better actor in this role than I might have expected him to be and he plays out a role that is truly frightening. I think that this movie might be well worth a watch for those into old movies, I found this movie’s plot both disturbing and fascinating in equal measure and that’s why I think it makes a good offering for this week’s ‘Weekend Movie’ spot.
Here's the link to this extremely interesting movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4TW8JjXOpA