Drive a Crooked Road

A shy Los Angeles mechanic and weekend racer (Mickey Rooney) is duped into being the getaway driver for bank robbers played by Kevin McCarthy and Jack Kelly. It seems as if they have a rather elaborate plot to hook him into their scheme by using McCarthy's girlfriend played by attractive Dianne Foster as lure for the shy and withdrawn Rooney who only has his job and his racing trophies to keep him going. It all works fairly well and shows how an innocent person is lured into doing something he would never ordinarily do with the bait being implied sex. Rooney is really good but so are both Kevin McCarthy and his partner played by Jack Kelly. The robbery itself occurs in Palm Springs and does not disappoint in execution with Kelly especially good as the gunman cracking jokes as he accompanies the head teller to the bank followed by the getaway car (which was souped up by Rooney). The film's title comes into play as Rooney drives like mad over a twisting mountain road back to the highway in under twenty minutes. All the elements of the story are mixed pretty well with a tough ending.