Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

An Exercise In Nonsense

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

This little known and little seen Edward G. Robinson film takes Eddie back to the days when he was playing some quite serious gangster roles. Caesar Enrico Bandello and Johnny Rocco don't have a patch on his Vince Canelli in Black Tuesday.Imagine if Little Caesar or Johnny Rocco being captured and on death row with bank robber Peter Graves both sentenced to die that day. Only Robinson has a very well conceived plan to escape at the last minute. He takes Graves along and the rest of those on that Green Mile, the others to throw confusion and buy time and Graves because Graves has hidden $200,000.00 from his last bank job and Robinson wants to flee the country in style with lots of spending loot. Graves is no fool either. When he says the money is well hidden and only he can get to it, he's not kidding. Black Tuesday was shot on a shoestring budget and I'm sure what money they had was spent for a really good supporting cast of familiar faces. Standing out are Warren Stevens as one of the hired guns that helps Robinson crash the joint, Jack Kelly as a cub reporter who is one of many taken hostage and Milburn Stone as the prison padre taken hostage as well.Both the prison escape scene and the final gun battle are well staged and brutal for the time. The film looks like it's in need of restoration and I hope it gets it.

Gritty low-budget prison film stars Edward G. Robinson as a death-row inmate about to be executed (black Tuesday) along with a convict (Peter Graves) who has $200,000 stashed away on the outside. But just as they are about to go to the chair, they pull an amazing prison break and escape.With a new gang that includes his moll (Jean Parker), Robinson plots to get the cash out of a safety deposit box. But things get complicated when Graves takes a bullet. With Parker posing as his secretary, Graves gets the money but his wound starts bleeding, tipping off the bank guard.Holed up in a warehouse and with several hostages, Robinson resists the cops' barrage of bullets and tear gas and threatens to kill the hostages one by one unless they are allowed to escape. But is there honor among thieves and murderers? Robinson is terrific as the murderous thug who will sacrifice anyone to get his way. Parker is also terrific as the hard-boiled moll (after decades of soft heroine roles). Graves is also good as the fellow con. Co-stars include Warren Stevens, Milburn Stone, Jack Kelly, Sylvia Findley, Russell Johnson, Vic Perrin, William Schallert, and Frank Ferguson.

An interesting and surprisingly obscure prisoner-on-the-run crime drama, BLACK TUESDAY is perfectly suited for Late, Late Show viewing in the wee small hours of the morning, when much of the action takes place. Like KEY LARGO (also featuring Edward G. Robinson), THE DESPERATE HOURS and the PETRIFIED FOREST, the second half turns into a confined space stageplay. The large cast holed up in the even larger safehouse is game, however, and despite a few unintentionally funny and seemingly out of place romantic interludes, things otherwise generally remain taut. It's like old TV home week as no less than three players from the Desilu stage (Vic Perrin and William Schallert from Star Trek guest appearances, Peter Graves from Mission: Impossible right next door on the lot) get significant screen time. Also look for Russell (The Professor) Johnson in a minor part. Graves in particular has a much more emotive adult part than he customarily got (other than Stalag 17) and he goes for it with gusto, if not much panache. Still, Robinson is at his melodramatic "Where's your messiah now?" best here, blithely slapping broads, torturing gunshot victims and going out in a Little Caeseresque hail of bullets / blaze of glory.Seasoned noir veteran Sydney (SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS, ROGUE COP, UNION STATION, THE HIGH WALL and most notably, THE BIG HEAT) Boehm's script is not brain surgery (the prison breakout is dazzlingly improbable) and is frankly a bit derivative of movies like Cagney's KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE and Bogey's HIGH SIERRA. Also, they obviously didn't spend much on production values. Still, there is no one more iconic in this kind of capo titti capi role than Edward G. Robinson and given the lack of exposure this movie has had in the last 40 years, seeing Robinson's performance is akin to unearthing buried noir treasure. Any fan of Edward G. should immediately seek out this elusive screener because his vicious performance is nothing short of breathtaking, and trumps any of the limitations of this movie.

Edward G. Robinson shows he still could do the gangster role and keep the performances fresh. Unlike the mob bosses Robinson played in"Little Ceaser", "The Last Gangster", and "Key Largo", the role of Vincent Canelli is more modern and vicious than the typical cigar chewing prohabtion gangster. Canelli and gunman Manning{Peter Graves} await their death sentence with a bunch of other prisoners on death row. Canelli's mob kidnap the daughter of one of the prison guards andblackmail the guard in helping the death row inmates bust outta the joint!! Canelli needs Manning's money that he stashed away for his final getaway and Manning is just looking for freedom. The story leadsto a moral climatic stand-off with escaped killers vs. the police. The soul-less Canelli shows how low killers will go to survive. Great performance by Robinson and Graves, especially Robinson who plays agangster ahead of those times. It's sad that not enough people know about this movie. If your any type of gangster, suspense, or just a Eddie G. fan, GET YOUR HANDS ON A COPY OF THIS FILM... NYA'SEE!!!!!