Larceny (1958)

Directed by George Sherman; produced by Leonard Goldstein

Flushed with a recent success, big-time confidence-men Rick Maxon (John Payne) and Silky Randall (Dan Duryea) embark on their next venture: the fleecing of a small city in California. They hope to achieve this by embroiling the daughter (Joan Caulfield) of the city-manager in a financial scandal. Things become unexpectedly complicated, however, when Maxon begins to develop feelings for the girl, while Silky’s girl, Tory (Shelley Winters), declares her feelings for Maxon.

Larceny is a pretty average crime film, as bland as its title. The story is predictable: as soon as Silky shows Maxon a photograph of his target, the audience knows that emotions will cause unforeseen difficulties – unforeseen by the crooks, not the viewers. Some interest is generated by the flighty and selfish actions of Winters’s character, but everything moves along according to schedule.

If the story is ordinary, the script provides some amusement, mainly in the tough-talk exchanged among Maxon, Silky and Tory. It’s not grade-A dialogue, but it gives a few good moments.

It’s the players, however, who provide the principal entertainment. Payne is a good lead in most of his movies, capable of shifting between villain (usually the kind heading for redemption) and hero (note the growing idealism of his lawyer in Miracle on 34th Street), even if his rôle here does not compel him to any great feats of acting.

Duryea is always dependable when cast as a heel; here, he is suitably oily, ready even to forego killing a hated enemy in order to turn a profit. Winters often adds a disadvantageous abrasion to a film, but in Larceny, she is the wild card that provides the few twists to the plot – though none of them turn it from its pre-destined course. Dan O’Herlihy, in only his third feature, plays a gentle and easy-going member of the criminal gang.

George Sherman was nothing if not prolific behind the camera, directing a large number of movies in the late 1930s and the ‘40s, half a dozen or more a year. None was really of note, however, except for a couple of John Wayne features, late in the director’s career. Westerns occupied most of Sherman’s time, but Larceny is probably typical of his style: workmanlike but unremarkable.

While it confirms that terms such as ‘grifter’ and ‘sting’ were really used in the 1940s – though whether by genuine con-men or not remains unknown - Larceny is neither very bad nor very good, and is stuck in the low-budget limbo of the time-filler.