Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

phonos-1 I saw this film in 1954 and have not seen it since. Why it still sticks in my mind after all this time is a bit of a mystery, but 2 scenes stick out in my memory. The first previously described in an earlier comment was the scene where the main characters are drilling into the gas line with sparks flying around, the second where the motorcycle cop pulls them over in their open topped gas laden truck and lights up a smoke. The look of panic on our heroes' faces nearly made me wet myself! This film was released in the U.S. on VHS some years ago. I bid for it on ebay but was skittled in the rush. I'd love to see it again, if only to see if I could still laugh as much. I live in Australia where we call gas petrol.Bill.

TxMike 'A Slight Case of Larceny' came out in 1953, about the time my dad and I, a 7-year-old, began to take weekend trips to New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, and Houston. I remember those high gasoline prices of 20 to 30 cents a gallon. So, here in this movie, where the posted 'discount' was 5, 6 cents a gallon, all the way up to 11 cents, was really a big percentage discount. But where were the lines of cars, waiting to fill up at those low prices? It was set in Galveston, but it was obviously filmed on back lots and on California highways. Galveston does not have hills and rocky roadside cliffs. The beach scenes looked a lot like Galveston did back in the 1950s, but could have been southern California beaches. Both main characters wore WWII leather flight jackets, just like the jacket I wear every winter, and that was fun to see.Mickey Rooney stars as Augustus 'Geechy' Cheevers, a born schemer. Operating "Cheevers and Clopp's Gasoline and Oil Station", along with Frederick Clopp (Eddie Bracken). Meanwhile, a wealthy owner of 15 stations puts up his own right across the street, and begins to undercut their prices to try to put them out of business. So Geechy Cheevers has to figure out a scheme to counteract that. SPOILERS are contained in the rest of my comments, you may want to quit reading now if you have not seen the movie. Geechy's scheme is to dig a tunnel from his station, under the road, to his competitor's gasoline pipeline, tap in, and use the "free" gasoline as a way to undercut prices and stay in business. He does, and after a long price war, causes the other station to close down. But a robbery results in a cigarette spark that burns down the station. Afraid they will be exposed they get on Geechy's motorcycle and run away, eventually turning themselves in because of guilt. They were not being sought, but tried anyway after the confession, found guilty of petty larceny and sentenced to 6 months plus repay all the stolen gasoline. Last scene, working for their women, who refuse to let them drink beer during the day, we see that Geechy has tapped into the draft beer "pipeline" to get his free beer!Rooney was 33 here, and in fine form. Already a veteran of movies, even today in 2004 he has roles in three more. As of this count his 259th movie, although many of them were B&W film shorts back in the silent days.

tomh-16 I first saw this movie in New York while on a job interview trip in 1968. I have not seen hide nor hair of this movie since. I do, however, remember what a funny, slapstick romp it was. I realize it was a "B" movie, and likely was shot on a budget. But no expense was spared to maximize the comedy content. The scene of those two knuckleheads in the basement with the sparking electric drill was just great. Very enjoyable, I would love to see it again. Alas, my local television stations never had a print of it to run, and I am sure the networks wouldn't waste airtime on it today. I wonder why it has not been released on videotape? Somebody is sitting on a great early '50's comedy. If you are a Mickey Rooney fan, don't miss a chance to see this one. It is wonderful.

Eric Chapman Slight is right. But somehow it doesn't matter. It's still a rather enjoyable little movie. There just isn't much going on at all here, but it's bright and brisk and agreeable. It offers up some token conflict from time to time, but it's almost as if it's envisioning an audience with heart problems - it doesn't want to do anything that might upset them or cause them undue stress.The key here is Mickey Rooney. He is just a human dynamo; his immense self-confidence is exhilarating, contagious. He wings through each scene without a trace of doubt or indecision. His timing, his uncanny sense of pacing, his delivery, are impeccable. He is precision incarnate. It's a very, very strong, potent characterization.Wasn't quite so impressed with Eddie Bracken. You want him to supply some legitimate resistance to Rooney's brazen scheming, some spark. He isn't necessarily a good comic match for him. Bracken is never as lovable as he's supposed to be. He doesn't complement Rooney in an ingenious enough way - the way a good, seasoned straight man really should.Other assets would have to be the clean, crisp photography and gorgeous Elaine Stewart as Rooney's love interest. More than the curves, he admires the dollar signs in her eyes. Cute film.