Six Bridges to Cross

{{Infobox film

| name = Six Bridges to Cross

| image = Six Bridges to Cross.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Film poster by Reynold Brown

| director = Joseph Pevney

| producer = Aaron Rosenberg

| screenplay = Sydney Boehm

| based_on = They Stole $25,000,000 – And Got Away with It by Joseph F. Dinneen

| starring = Tony Curtis
George Nader
Julie Adams

| cinematography = William H. Daniels

| editing = Russell F. Schoengarth

| color_process = Black and white

| studio = Universal Pictures

| distributor = Universal Pictures

| released = {{film date|1955|1|21|}}

| runtime = 96 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

| gross = $1.8 million (US)'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1955', Variety Weekly, January 25, 1956

}}

Six Bridges to Cross or 6 Bridges to Cross is a 1955 American film noir crime film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Tony Curtis, George Nader and Julie Adams.{{cite book|last=Murray|first=Raymond|title=Images in the dark: an encyclopedia of gay and lesbian film and video|url=https://archive.org/details/imagesindarkency00murr_0|url-access=registration|accessdate=14 January 2011|date=15 July 1996|publisher=Plume|isbn=978-0-452-27627-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/imagesindarkency00murr_0/page/225 225]}} Six Bridges to Cross is based upon the famous 1950 Great Brink's Robbery of Boston, Massachusetts in which the thieves made off with roughly $2.5 million.{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/110428/Six-Bridges-to-Cross/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103184241/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/110428/Six-Bridges-to-Cross/overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 November 2012|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|author=Sandra Brennan|date=2012|title=Six Bridges to Cross (1955)|accessdate=14 January 2011}}{{cite book|last=Baxter|first=John|title=The gangster film|url=https://archive.org/details/gangsterfilm0000baxt|url-access=registration|accessdate=14 January 2011|year=1970|publisher=A. Zwemmer|page=[https://archive.org/details/gangsterfilm0000baxt/page/86 86]|isbn=978-0-498-07714-2 }}

Plot

Jerry Florea (Tony Curtis) is planning a heist. The story begins with the events which led a young Florea (Sal Mineo) to become a crook. One day he is shot during a robbery and as a result an amenable policeman and his wife take him under their wing.{{cite book|last1=Langman|first1=Larry|last2=Finn|first2=Daniel|title=A guide to American crime films of the forties and fifties|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mqMYAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=14 January 2011|year=1995|publisher=Greenwood Press|page=254|isbn=9780313292651}} As a young man he deludes them, and pretends to no longer have criminal intent and even gets a job at the Brinks. They are unaware he is preparing to rob the establishment. It is only after he and his gang pull off the heist that Florea reconsiders his actions and attempts to make amends for the crime.

Cast

Tony Curtis as Jerry Florea
George Nader as Edward Gallagher
Julie Adams as Ellen Gallagher
Jay C. Flippen as Vincent Concannon
Sal Mineo as Jerry as a boy
Jan Merlin as Andy Norris
Richard Castle as Skids Radzevich
William Murphy as Red Flanagan
Kendall Clark as Mr. Sanborn
Don Keefer as Mr. Sherman
Harry Bartell as Father Bonelli
Tito Vuolo as Angie

Production

The screenplay for the film was written by Sydney Boehm, based on Joseph F. Dinneen's They Stole $25,000,000 – And Got Away with It. The film was shot on location in Boston.{{cite book|last=Maltin|first=Leonard|title=Leonard Maltin's TV movies and video guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZSMd1SIvCEC|accessdate=14 January 2011|date=4 October 1988|publisher=New American Library|isbn=978-0-451-15619-8|page=225}}

Jeff Chandler was to play the lead but refused and was put on suspension by Universal.{{cite news|title=Jeff Chandler Suspended at U-I|date=May 21, 1954|work=Los Angeles Times|page=A6}}

A pre-fame Clint Eastwood supposedly auditioned for George Nader's role in May 1954, his first real audition, but was rejected by Pevney.{{cite book |last= McGilligan |first= Patrick |title= Clint: The Life and Legend|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=w6i25jxBIwcC|accessdate= 15 January 2011|publisher= Harper Collins|year=1999|isbn=0-00-638354-8|location=London|page=63}} The part of the young Florea was given to a 15-year-old Sal Mineo. Mineo had also successfully auditioned for a part in The Private War of Major Benson as a cadet colonel opposite Charlton Heston.{{cite book|last1=Ellis|first1=Chris|last2=Ellis|first2=Julie|title=The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murder: Murder Played Out in the Spotlight of Maximum Publicity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9pAof9Hs2YC&pg=PA415|accessdate=14 January 2011|date=27 July 2005|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-57181-140-0|page=415}} Sammy Davis Jr. was hired to sing the title track written by friend Jeff Chandler and Henry Mancini, recording it on December 2, 1954.{{cite book|title=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LiMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15|accessdate=14 January 2011|date=27 November 1954|page=15|issn=0006-2510}}{{cite book|last=Haygood|first=Wil|title=In black and white: the life of Sammy Davis, Jr|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3R1aAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=14 January 2011|date=7 October 2003|publisher=A.A. Knopf|page=156|isbn=9780375403545}}{{cite book|last=Fishgall|first=Gary|title=Gonna do great things: the life of Sammy Davis, Jr|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780743227414|url-access=registration|accessdate=14 January 2011|date=30 September 2003|publisher=Scribner|isbn=978-0-7432-2741-4}} The overall score was composed by Frank Skinner and Herman Stein but they went uncredited in the film for their contributions.