When your main character (Gary Lockwood) thinks nothing of machine-gunning security guards who are only doing their jobs, and executing innocent bystanders, it makes it very hard to be invested in the story.
I was frankly rooting for the federal agent on his trail (Jack Palance) to catch up with him and kill him.
Wish it had ended differently. And sooner.
I agree. I can't stand the types of movies that try to make a hero out of the bad guy. To justify it, they say he really wasn't after the money or the additional gold bars he wasn't expecting; it was all to prove it could be done.
Well, duh, almost anything can be done if, as you said, you blow away enough people in the process. Even people who were not killed could be left traumatized after something like that happens. Elke's character, for example, was basically used for sex and information. It's not like she had clean hands but she seemed to be a lost soul looking for love and acceptance.
In real life when people commit crimes, like a bank robbery, and there are no casualties some people act like it was not as bad a crime. Well, if you're the bank teller who had a gun pointed in your face you could be left shaken and afraid for a lifetime. You're thankful you weren't killed but you were still victimized.
Also, if the ringleader really didn't care about the money and only wanted to prove he could break into the armored truck to get at what was inside, why did he bother to go back to the scene of the crime? Also, why would he want to prevent his partners from cashing in? It's not a complaint but it seems he used everyone involved to fulfill a personal vendetta. The theft would have earned them just as many years behind bars whether they got away with the money or not. Murder is a much more serious crime than theft but a heist like that one would also be a serious felony.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]
Yeah, although, to be fair, I have enjoyed movies featuring thieves, robbers and con men as heroes. There's the classic BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (featuring two characters who- sorry- do point loaded guns at bank tellers)... THIEF, starring James Caan... THE GETAWAY starring Steve McQueen and Ali MaCraw... Newman and Redford (again) in THE STING... THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY with Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland... DEAD HEAT ON A MERRY GO ROUND with James Coburn, etc.
But in none of those movies does the hero (or heroes) behave like a sadistic killer.
In fact, if those guys end up killing anyone, it's always villains who are far worse than they are.
But in THEY CAME TO ROB LAS VEGAS, Lockwood's character isn't like that. That dude was a sociopath.
And those guys are impossible to root for.
Yeah, although, to be fair, I have enjoyed movies featuring thieves, robbers and con men as heroes... those guys end up killing anyone, it's always villains who are far worse than they are.I get your point but I hate to glorify criminals and that's what the characters you mentioned are. They may not be psychopathic or kill innocent people but it doesn’t mean they didn’t have victims. When they rob a bank, that money belonged to the townspeople so they were victimized.