The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (also called The St. Louis Bank Robbery) is a 1959 heist film, directed by Charles Guggenheim and starring Steve Mc Queen as a college dropout hired to be the getaway driver in a bank robbery.
George Fowler is introduced to a gang planning to rob a bank in St. Louis that they expect will have $100,000 on hand on an upcoming Friday. George is drawn into the plan as the gang's driver by Gino, an old girlfriend's older brother. As the gang goes about its planning, George and Gino have to find a way to live for the next two weeks and they turn to Gino's sister, Ann, for help. George is hoping to go back to college and the money he would make would go a long way to helping him do that. Not trusting George to keep his nerve, the gang's leader John Egan moves him to the inside, but the robbery doesn't go off as planned.
- Abusive Parent: John Egan is a He-Man Woman Hater who refuses to have women even tangentially involved in his work. He drunkenly confesses to George that his misogyny comes from experiences with his alcoholic abusive mother, whom he eventually murdered by pushing her down a flight of stairs.
- Alcoholic Parent: John Egan is a He-Man Woman Hater who refuses to have women even tangentially involved in his work. He drunkenly confesses to George that his misogyny comes from experiences with his alcoholic abusive mother, whom he eventually murdered by pushing her down a flight of stairs.
- Ate His Gun: After the bank robbery goes pear-shaped, Gino tries to escape. Finding there is no way out, and having vowed he was Never Going Back to Prison, he puts his gun his mouth and kills himself.
- Bank Robbery: Exactly What It Says on the Tin
- The Caper: John Egan assembles a crew to rob the Southwest Bank in St. Louis.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: A drunk Ann goes to the Southwest Bank at night and writes a warning about the impending robbery on its window in lipstick.
- Criminal Procedural: Details the planning and preparation for the Bank Robbery, and how George's involvement with Ann threatens to send the whole thing off the rails.
- Dramatization: This story is based on the actual robbery of the Southwest Bank in St. Louis in 1953. Many of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police officers and bank employees play themselves doing what they did during the actual robbery.
- Driven to Suicide: After the bank robbery goes pear-shaped, Gino tries to escape. Finding there is no way out, and having vowed he was Never Going Back to Prison, he puts his gun his mouth and kills himself.
- Getaway Driver: George is recruited to fill this role in the Caper Crew. Just before the robbery, Egan feels betrayed by George and orders him to participate directly in the robbery while Willy drives the car. This ends badly when Willy panics when the police arrive and bugs out, leaving his partners inside the bank.
- He-Man Woman Hater: John Egan, as the result of growing with an alcoholic abusive mother, despises and distrusts all women. He insists that all of his crew have no involvement with women while The Heist is happening. When he discovers that George has let slip details of the job to Ann, he throws her off the fire escape.
- Hide Your Gays: It is strongly implied that Egan and Willy are in a homosexual relationship. They have been constant companions ever since Egan 'protected' Willy in prison, and share a hotel room. Egan comments on how Willy is getting fat, and reminds him how pretty had had been when he first arrived in prison. And Willy gets jealous when Egan takes an interest in the handsome, young George Fowler and invites him to join them in Mexico after The Heist.
- Human Shield: Egan forces his way out of the bank, using a teller as a human shield, but is shot down by the police.
- If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: On learning that the newcomer George Fowler has no criminal record, he takes George with him and forces him to steal the licence plates the gang will require for the Bank Robbery to prove his criminal credentials.
- Never Going Back to Prison: Gino is paranoid about about going back to prison. When he realizes he is trapped in the bank, he suffers a Villainous Breakdown and eats his gun.
- Noodle Incident: Whatever it was George did that got him and Ann expelled from college.
- Plethora of Mistakes: George Fowler is recruited to be the getaway driver for the titular bank robbery. John Egan (the gang's leader) has planned everything meticulously and timed things down to a second. However, Ann, (George's ex-girlfriend) finds out about the robbery and tries to inform the authorities. John kills her for knowing too much and changes the plan so now Willie is the driver and George has to come into the bank with the other robbers. The day before the robbery the bank makes a small change that causes the entire plan to unravel. The police show up and Willie panics and drives off without the others. The robbery ends with John shot by the police while taking a woman hostage, Gino committing suicide in the vaults and George captured.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the police surround the bank, Willy panics and drives off leaving his partners inside the bank.
- Spiteful Spit: After being shot by the police and disarmed, the cops ask Egan how many others are inside the bank. His response is to say "Go to hell!" and spit at them.
- Sawn-Off Shotgun: Egan carries a sawn-off pump action shotgun during the bank robbery.
- Staircase Tumble: John Egan is a He-Man Woman Hater who refuses to have women even tangentially involved in his work. He drunkenly confesses to George that his misogyny comes from experiences with his abusive mother, whom he eventually murdered by pushing her down a flight of stairs.
- Spanner in the Works: Two occur to upset the carefully planned Bank Robbery. first, Egan swaps the Getaway Driver role from George to Willy, and Willy didn't know that he was supposed to bring along a police-frequency scanner. Secondly, the bank has relocated a switchboard from the lobby to the basement that morning, which the gang is unaware of. Seeing the old switchboard unattended, they assume they no longer have to take the switchboard out of commission. Combined, these two factors allow the bank staff to trip the alarm, and leave the robbers unaware that the police are on their way.
- Villain Protagonist: George Fowler is a college dropout hired to be the getaway driver in a Bank Robbery.
- Would Hit a Girl: The misogynistic John Egan throws Ann off the fire escape because he is afraid she might take what she knows about The Heist to the police.
