The Grissom Gang

From Viennale

When wealthy heiress Barbara Blandish (Kim Darby) falls into the clutches of the dangerous Grissom gang, her fate would appear to be sealed: once the ransom has been paid, she is to be killed. But then Slim Grissom (Scott Wilson), the unstable youngest member of the gang, falls in love with her… Although Depression-era gangster films drawing on outlaw romanticism were all the rage following the success of BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967), Aldrich’s final film for his own studio (which had to be sold shortly afterwards) still turned out to be a flop. Instead of pandering to nostalgia and genre convention, he combined crime-thriller excess with an impossible love story, resulting in an improbable tragedy: yet another challenge to audience expectations. In his satirical jibes, Aldrich emphasises class differences above all else: the worst monster in a monstrous film turns out to be a millionaire (Wesley Addy). As Aldrich put it, “The Grissom Gang should have been at the head of the nostalgia cycle, and should have taken off. I think that the timing was perfect, the style of the picture was perfect. If you’re asking me why that picture was not a success, I haven’t a clue.” (Christoph Huber)