Criss Cross Reviews

A bleak but compelling film noir, CRISS CROSS stars the forceful Burt Lancaster as an honest armored-car guard who takes up again with his ex-wife, De Carlo, now married to sleazy gangster Duryea. When the mobster finds Lancaster with his wife, Lancaster excuses the rendezvous by telling Duryea that they had merely been conducting business, planning to rob the armored car he drives. This lie leads him into a bizarre robbery scheme in which he must work with Duryea and his henchmen while dodging suspicious cop McNally. De Carlo complicates matters by promising to run off with Lancaster after he completes the robbery, in a double cross of Duryea's gang. During the robbery, Lancaster kills two of his fellow thieves, but is also wounded. It's all downhill from there. CRISS CROSS is a somber, extremely violent, utterly grim film, with suspense expertly maintained throughout by Robert Siodmak's taut direction--his handling of flashbacks and clever staging of the robbery, stand out. Lancaster is powerful as the love-torn guard, and Yvonne De Carlo smokes up the screen with her earthy portrayal of a money-hungry vamp (a role almost twin to Ava Gardner's slippery siren opposite Lancaster in THE KILLERS). Watch for a very young Tony Curtis as a handsome lounge lizard.