The Jailbreakers
1h 3m 1959
Alexander Grasshoff
Robert Hutton
Mary Castle
[Ed] Lake
Gabe Delutri
Anton Van Stralen
Stearn
Alta Vista Productions
American International Pictures
After escaping from the state prison, former lawyer Ed Lake, muscle-bound Stearn and gun-toting psychotic Joe change into street clothes and drive to meet Ed's stepson, law student Tom, and his wife June. Claiming that he was just released from prison and needs help clearing himself of his conviction to be able to return to his practice, Ed asks Tom to drive him and the men to the mountains to meet a witness, who has the evidence in his case. However, Tom and June become suspicious when Ed refuses to let them turn on the radio or stop the convertible for food during the ride. After arriving in a deserted ghost town, Ed orders Stearn to hide the car, prompting Tom and June to make up an excuse to leave, but Stearn stands in their way. Ed then talks to Tom alone, explaining that a criminal named Bushman, recently released from prison, will be arriving soon to dig up $400,000 buried nearby. Ed, who plans to take the money and use it to help clear his name, sends Joe and Stearn to look out for any cars approaching. When Tom agrees to help his stepfather, June reprimands her husband for acquiescing to Ed, despite having had no contact with his stepfather for over ten years. After Joe shoots the chair leg out from under the dozing Stearn for fun, Tom, fearing Joe's recklessness, decides he must take away his gun. After Joe fires all the remaining bullets at a rattlesnake, Ed, Joe and Stearn are forced to arm themselves with rocks and pipes and take cover when a car approaches. They soon discover that, instead of Bushman, the car carries a honeymooning couple, who leave shortly thereafter without seeing the criminals. Joe then drives off in the convertible, promising to return with ammunition he plans to steal from the sheriff. Soon after, Joe speeds past a sheriff's car, and when the sheriff pursues him, Joe pulls off on a closed road. When the officer approaches Joe's car to issue a ticket, Joe punches him and, in the ensuing brawl, grabs the sheriff's gun, shoots him and flees. After driving down several dead ends, Joe stops outside a house where teenage Karen Dunn is babysitting. He asks her for some water for the radiator and directions to the ghost town, but Karen is wary of Joe's nervous behavior. Sensing Karen's fear, Joe kidnaps her. Meanwhile, when Stearn attacks June, Tom come to her defense and easily defeats Stearn with his military combat skills. Tom then cautions Ed that Joe is out of control and will surely take the money and kill them all. The callous Ed replies that he was guilty of the crime of which he was convicted and has nothing to lose. When Joe finally returns with Karen, Stearn and Ed grab the gun from him. Later Karen secretly tells Tom and June that Ed matches the description of an escaped convict she saw on television. Desperate to stop his stepfather from harming them, Tom shows Ed the book Ed gave him about the principles of law, which inspired his own career, but Ed is unmoved. Later that night, in a ruse planned by the three captives, June pretends to see a rattlesnake and in the ensuing confusion, Tom grabs Ed's gun, but with only one bullet left in the chamber and three criminals facing him, Tom is easily convinced to drop the weapon. Stearn then grabs the gun and orders Ed to tie up the three prisoners and confine them in the convertible. Joe and Stearn are about to leave Ed behind, when Ed spots Bushman driving down the road and shouts for them to hide. As the criminals watch Bushman begin to dig in an old cemetery, Karen helps free Tom, who tries to warn Bushman, but Joe kills Bushman before he can react. While Joe, Stearn and Ed are unearthing the money, Tom surreptitiously cuts the brake lines on the convertible. When he tries to push Bushman's car into a ditch, however, Stearn shoots and wounds him. Wanting the money for himself, Joe then shoots Ed. While Tom hides with June, Stearn escapes with the money in Bushman's car and Joe pursues him in the convertible. When Bushman's car dies, Joe kills Stearn and takes the money, but as he drives down the steep cliff road, the brakes give out and the car veers over a cliff, killing Joe and sending the money fluttering into the air. Back at the ghost town, Tom takes the law book with him as he walks June and Karen to safety.
Toby Hill
Karen Dunn
Coleman Francis
John Alexander
Samuel Z. Arkoff
Basil Bradbury
Andre Brummer
Music Composition and Conducting
W. Merle Connell
Dale Knight
Art Manikan
Head grip
James H. Nicholson
William Schon
Screenplay collaboration
Bert Shipham
Jonathan Stern
Harry Thomas
Rex Tipton
Sound Effects Editor
Carol Yates
Preceding the opening credits, three men are seen escaping from the state prison and fleeing in a getaway car awaiting them. Alexander Grasshoff's onscreen credit reads "Written, Produced and Directed by Alexander Grasshoff." The Jailbreakers was Grasshoff's directorial and producing debut.