THE SANTA CLAUS BANK ROBBERY

by A. C. Greene ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 28, 1972

The trigger-happy tale of a West Texas bank heist with Santa Claus and his helpers featured in the role of the desperadoes. Greene goes after the down-home, just-plain folks angle which catapulted Bonnie and Clyde to stardom and indeed this would appear to have all the ingredients for a big box-office haul. Outraged by the desecration of the sacred symbol of Santa, the entire town of Cisco gets into the shoot-out and the good old sporting element is considerably enhanced by the local bankers' association posting of a ""dead robber"" reward offering $5000 to anyone who killed a varmint caught in the act ""but not one cent for a hundred live ones."" From the initial takeoff when the getaway car runs out of gas, to the grisly finale, our heroes (?) have nothing but bad luck: one gets laid low by the posse, one gets the chair, another gets lynched from the tallest tree. Greene's gallows humor holds up better than the rope as the corpses multiply and Texas-style justice takes its redneck course. A bloody farce wherein the good guys and the bad guys are kin and Santa Claus meets his Maker to the fundamentalist thump of an old hymn: ""When the roll is call'd up yonn-der. . . I'll be there!"" Rough 'n ready 'n raunchy enough to swell the author's bankroll and gladden the hearts of outlaw-lovers back in the tame East.

Pub Date: June 28, 1972

ISBN: 1574410717

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION