ST. LOUIS – Few films have showcased St. Louis on a screen quite like “The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery,” a 1959 classic that brought a reenactment of a real-life St. Louis heist to the big screen.
Today, many of the film’s locations remain a key part of the city’s landscape, most notably the former Southwest Bank (now a BMO Harris Bank) and nearby Tower Grove Park.
“The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery” is based on a true story, the May 2, 1953 robbery of the Southwest Bank. The film follows George Fowler (played by a young Steve McQueen), a college dropout who is lured into a heist by two seasoned criminals, John Egan and Gino. Despite having no criminal past, Fowler unexpectedly finds himself serving as the getaway driver in a major bank robbery scheme.
As the group carefully plans the robbery, George reconnects with his ex-girlfriend Ann, who soon discovers the group’s plan and tries to warn authorities. Before she can intervene, chaos unfolds.
What begins as a carefully planned heist quickly spirals into pandemonium. A dramatic hostage situation leads to a tense standoff with police. In the end, Egan was gunned down by officers after revealing that he murdered Ann, Gino dies by suicide, and George, shocked and wounded, realizes he is trapped in a world of crime he never intended to enter.
The film captures the raw tension of a real-life bank robbery gone wrong: Sirens blaring, police swarming the bank and one officer who was left wounded. While it’s a bizarre true-crime story, “The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery” also represents one of the city’s biggest hits in Hollywood history.
Over the weekend, FOX 2 revisited some of the film’s iconic locations, comparing their on-screen appearances to how they look today.
The Bank
The bank’s exterior structure is largely unchanged, though a modern sign and statue now pay tribute to The Hill neighborhood of St. Louis. The bank is located at the intersection of South Kingshighway Boulevard and Southwest Avenue.
Tower Grove Park
In the beginning, the group meets at the Sons of Rest Pavilion at Tower Grove Park to discuss their bank robbery plans. The pavilion itself remains largely unchanged, though modern structural updates and a fresh coat of paint have helped it stand the test of time.
The easternmost entrance to the park, however, has undergone some significant changes, particularly the two street pillars and the addition of a park namesake sign.
The movie also features a driving scene that appears to be along the edge of the park, which may depict Arsenal Street, or at the very least a street with a similar layout.
Car Lot
Also early in the movie, George is shown walking through a car lot, where he crossed paths with Gino. The car lot as it appeared in the movie no longer exists today. It was reportedly located at the intersection of South Kingshighway Boulevard and Chippewa Street. Now, a Walgreens stands at that location. For one point of comparison, even if it’s not exact, here’s a look at how cars were parked in the area back then versus today.
Around that time, the film also features a cutaway of a stoplight, which appears more antiquated compared to modern designs.
The Bridges – Illinois to Missouri
The very opening scenes show what a drive across the St. Louis riverfront looked like before the Gateway Arch was built. It’s pretty wild. Frames of the Eads Bridge and McArthur Bridge reveal how commuters navigated the area before the Arch became the iconic welcome to St. Louis.
Here’s another view, though not to an exact perfect science. The Eads Bridge has maintained a similar appearance over several decades.
Likewise, the McKinley Bridge has largely retained its original look, even though the surrounding highway system has seen significant development.
What Else To Know
The original production of “The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery” is available to watch on Archive.org as a public domain movie with the Creative Commons label of Public Domain Mark 1.0. It is believed to be free of copyright restrictions.
IMDb, an online database for movie productions, lists several St. Louis locations used in the film, though perhaps not all are identified.
The real-life 1953 robbery, which inspired the film, was the subject of a 2013 blog by historian Ken Zimmerman Jr., which delves deeper into details of the actual crime, including the different names of the perpetrators involved.
In 2007, public media organization Nine PBS profiled the actual bank robbery and interviewed actor Mel Stein, who portrayed a police officer in the film.