Robbery (1967) Online

Robbery is for me a semi-documentary / thriller based on the Great Train Robbery of 1963. The location of the actual heist, on a bridge crossing a country lane bears similarity to the real robbery. The film moves around much of 60s London in the first part, during which time the gang are robbing to gain funds, plus planning the main robbery.

The gangs' meeting on the terraces during a Leyton Orient match is well screened; Stanley Baker becomes so heated during their discussion he misses a great run and shot against the crossbar shown from the pitch!

As for the central characters, Stanley Baker superbly plays "Mr Big" Paul Clifton, who is a character that the viewer never quite gets to know the limits. For example he tells the gang "we don't need guns, the police don't carry them"; later his wife finds his revolver at home, when quizzed he says "the gun is because I not going back inside (prison)".

William Marlowe cleverly plays Clifton's "number 2" Dave Aitken, who is clearly "nice cop" versus Clifton's "bad cop" in terms of running the gang.

As with the real train robbery, the gang make a successful robbery; however mistakes made during hideway contribute to their eventual capture. Not least when their contact who "cleans up" the getaway vehicles is apprehended at an airport leaving the UK with about £50K stuffed up his coat - his capture enables the police to set up a successful trap for the rest of the gang.

The ending of the film is probably a slight movement forward from many 1950s movies where the gang are all caught - the ending to Robbery slightly leaves the viewer guessing. This is a film for enthusiasts of films of past years, who may like to spot London landmarks.

This movie is well made, with a typical trade mark approach by the crime picture craftsman Peter Yates was. There's no big bang, no unnecessary violence, just the pace that tells the story. This method Yates used successfully in his Hollywood years building up a plot without too much distraction from standard story fillers, which produced great films such as "Bullitt" and "The Friends of Eddie Coyle". In this one Yates gives the audience just enough to paint a picture of a big time robbery, with minimal character development but enough to serve the purpose.

A must see for the fans of this classic director, not great but rather good crime movie that they don't make any more.

This is true British gangster filming at its best.

The opening robbery and car chase, from Hatton Garden around central London and out to Maida Vale, is utterly brilliant and that's years before the French Connection or anything like that. Peter Yates was brilliant. In fact, if they re-make any British gangster film these days it should be Robbery, not Get Carter or anything like that.

The music is utterly brilliant, too. Johny Keating should be up there with the likes of John Barry, John Williams, etc. He seems to have done virtually nothing after this film.

Even the faked scenes of the train robbery itself are great despite the London-Glasgow express train really being another train on a branch line travelling at about 30 mph.

They could've made a sequeal to this, too, with the legendary and fantastic Stanley Baker shown in the New World. Same goes for the late Barry Foster.

Following a successful diamond robbery in London, criminal mastermind Paul Clifton ( Stanley Baker ) decides to pull off the crime of the century - the theft of three million pounds from a train heading from Glasgow to London. He tries to join forces with other gangs, but they object to the money going to Switzerland. Clifton agrees to share it out on British soil, using a deserted aircraft hangar as hideout. A thief called Robinson ( Frank Finlay ) stupidly attempts to phone his wife during the robbery, and thus the police gain a valuable lead. As the law closes in, Clifton and his gang endeavor to make a getaway...

A fictionalised account of The Great Train Robbery of 1963, this Stanley Baker/Michael Deeley production benefits from taut direction by Peter Yates and a first-rate supporting cast. Alongside Baker, there are old reliables such as James Booth, Barry Foster, Frank Finlay, George Sewell and William Marlowe, with the beautiful Joanna Pettet thrown in to provide some glamour. As Clifton's long-suffering wife, she has little to do other than complain about her husband's prolonged absences from the bedroom on account of him forever being in prison.

The script by Edward Boyd, Peter Yates and George Markstein does not paint the main characters in any great detail, even Clifton himself ( based on Bruce Reynolds ) comes across as fairly one dimensional. His main nemesis is Inspector Langdon, and James Booth ( who had played 'Hook' in Baker's earlier 'Zulu' ), cast against type for a change, gives far and away the best performance.

The film opens with a thrilling robbery sequence culminating in a high-speed car chase through London. Its as exciting as you would expect from the future director of 'Bullitt'. Good music from Johnny Keating too.

'Robbery', though, is a curiously old fashioned piece which at times has the flavour of an I.T.C. show such as 'The Saint' ( and which Yates had contributed to ). It was made in 1967, the year that 'Bonnie & Clyde' and 'The Dirty Dozen' raised the bar for screen violence. The only real act of G.B.H. here is when the train driver is brutally coshed ( mirroring what happened to Jack Mills ). No nudity or bad language is on display. Its interesting to reflect that had it been made only a few years later it would have been very different. Look at 'Get Carter' and you will see what I mean.

For all its faults, this gripping crime film is well worth seeking out and is vastly superior to the over-sentimentalized 'Buster' starring Phil Collins.

Robbery is based upon the 1963 Great Train Robbery and is a far better account than 1988's "Buster". Stanley Baker and George Sewell take top honours in a brilliant crime film and one which is criminally underated.

Robbery is directed by Peter Yates and adapted to screenplay by Yates, Edward Boyd and George Markstein from The Robber's Tale written by Peta Fordham. It stars Stanley Baker, James Booth, Frank Finlay, Joanna Pettet, Barry Foster, William Marlowe, George Sewell and Clinton Greyn. Music is by Johnny Keating and cinematography by Douglas Slocombe.

As tough as steel toe capped docker boots, Robbery is a fictionalised take on the Great Train Robbery of 1963 that saw the London to Glasgow mail train stripped of its £2.6 million hold. It was a robbery seen as daring and near genius in its meticulous planning and execution. Coming out just four years after the real event, Peter Yates' film takes the skeleton facts of the real robbery and builds a dramatic carcass around it.

Film is structured in three stages, firstly is a scintillating diamond robbery that introduces us to some of the major players in the train robbery to follow. This is fronted by an adrenalin pumping car chase that stands as one of the finest ever put to celluloid, kinetic and with inventive use of camera work, it's set to almost no dialogue and is car choreography of the highest order. Steve McQueen was so impressed he promptly arranged to have Yates summoned to Hollywood to direct Bullit.

The second part of the picture and the meaty middle section of the tale, concentrates on the movers and shakers in the robbery. The planning of the event, the gathering of various criminal London factions, their meetings, arguments, frets and worries, even a scenario that sees ringleader Paul Clifton (Baker) arrange to have a currency expert broken out of prison. All the time while this is happening, as the various crooks move about various London locations such as bars, clubs, football grounds and abodes etc, we are also following the police side of things. The kicker here is that the police, led by Inspector George Langdon (Booth), know that something big is being planned, and by who, but they don't know what and have to bite their nails waiting for a break or for the event to actually happen!

Finally the third part is the robbery itself and the aftermath involving the robbers hiding out, scattering to the wind as the cops close in. The robbery is edge of the seat brilliance, cunning in its execution and filmed with such gritty realism it really grabs the attention wholesale. The climax played out at a disused airfield is also exciting and such is the fact that previously we have been firmly tuned into the main characters on both sides of the law, we are fully immersed into what will become of them all.

Yates and his cast are on fine form, with Baker and Booth excellent, in fact the film positively bristles with British beef at times! Slocombe's photography strips it back to basics, suitably so to imbue that documentary feel, and Keating's score thunders away like a criminal accomplice at times. While fans of 60s London as a period backdrop can't fail to feel well fed after film's end. Pettet's wife of Clifton angle feels under nourished, and the whole middle section inevitably fails to sustain the tempo created by that exhilarating first quarter of film, but small irritants only they be. For Robbery is a British Bulldog of a movie, its biceps bulging, its brain clicking into gear, in short, it's a cracker! 8/10

A very well made near-reconstruction of the Great Train Robbery, taut, brilliantly directed and acted, with excellent casting.

Stanley Baker was on top form for this film-such a tragedy that he died so young-and so are the rest of the cast, which includes many 1960s British film stalwarts, such as Glynn Edwards and Barry Foster.

It should be remembered that many of the details of the preparations by the "firms" who carried out the real GTR, only came out in later books, so the very realistic pre-the big robbery story lines in this film were, it turned out, not surprisingly, very accurate: the robbery to finance the big job, the pulling together of a team of top criminals etc.

In all not one to be missed, whenever it is shown on TV.

What obviously is a great (or maybe not-so-great depending on who to trust) film elsewhere on the world map, ROBBERY (1967) has since been into obscurity in the States. The print's a knockout! This may have helped launch future rip-offs of the burglar heist category, including the mellow-yellow LOOPHOLE. Anyone here who finds this will be glad that this is just one of the few kinds of movies that has never been seen quite often these days. It's a truly interesting find! Starting off with a long car chase, it becomes deeply involving with the story where Clifton runs a professional crook squad planning and attempting to rob a trainload of loot. You will not expect a fast-paced breeze through a simple little concept like stealing, but a very sharp plot makes this stand out, where one event leads to another. With a near-surprise finish, this is one domestic rarity that must be seen, and is highly recommended. Take it from me, you will be surprised at how many good movies are left in waiting for the eye.

I watched "Robbery" on TV for the first time in years yesterday and was impressed by the quality and reality of the story-line and the characters.

Every scene had an interesting meaning to it and the characters all behaved in a consistent manner - which is very refreshing to see in an age where stories are tailored just to meet the aura or egos of its stars. A big credit for this goes to the writers and the director. The acting of Stanley Baker and James Booth was also outstanding.

All in all a very enjoyable experience - which should appeal to film-lovers like me that are entertained by high quality production values and realistic stories.

A gang of crooks plan a big score and use other smaller robberies as a means of financing it. Clearly inspired by the Great Train Robbery of the 1960's, although the facts are shifted - maybe made for legal reasons?

This is the kind of film that I loved as child. And still do. Live-for-today criminals that stop at nothing to get their hands on the loot and heaven help anybody that gets in the way. While having the plus of the robbery and the usual gang of rent a villains it does minor variations on the expected while not leaving the well trodden track.

The car chase through central London is one of the best things here and inspired many impersonations. Indeed it is probably the first homicidal chase through a big city seen on screen.

(The chase in Bullet is a complete rip-off - although Peter Yates directed this as well!)

As another viewer noticed the dialogue is dated (no swearing!) and the thing lacks a clear hero and villain. All-in-all like watching one of the better episodes of The Sweeney (a UK TV series) and a good guide to London -- as it was back in the Swinging Sixties.

This is one of the best crime capers that you'll ever see, and it is based on a real-life event about several resourceful robbers who looted a British Royal Mail train in August 1963. Peter Yates never lets the suspense and the tension to lapse in this crackling good thriller. Steve McQueen took one look at this vintage thriller and knew that he had to have Yates at the helm of his classic cop saga "Bullitt." You won't find a better real-life hold-up movie. Of course, the filmmakers have taken certain liberties despite the fact that a train was robbed. Stanley Baker plays Paul Clifton, the man who masterminded the complex robbery. Yates covers the meticulous planning that went into the actual robbery. You won't forget this timeless thriller.

Most of the other commentators have hit this one on the head.

There's plenty of tense action from the beginning. The car chase through the streets of London after a botched jewel-heist is quite excellent. I don't think it has been bettered except by those of 'Ronin'. What is so spectacular about this chase is that it doesn't just focus on the participants as most other movies do. Here are real streets with other real vehicles and pedestrians. They are human and relevant, and not just props of convenience. The multiple cutting between furiously speeding cars and a peaceful school-crossing patrol is particularly memorable, as indeed are the consequences. We observe one of these unfortunates stricken with hysteria by her near-death experience. Once again; other movies treat bystanders as inconsequential accident-fodder rather than vulnerable people who suffer and die. Considering the age of this movie it's a hell of an act to beat.

After that, the plot assumes a fairly detailed parody of the infamous 'Great Train Robbery'. Most of the rent-a-mob stalwarts of the period can be spotted somewhere, with the excellent Stanley Baker giving it his baddie-best. And, of course, there's that wonderful old icon, the 3.4 litre Jaguar, standard road-tool of the 1960's villain. 

Yes; it is a bit dated now - especially as regards the language used. But that was a matter for the censors not the movie-makers. The likes of Mary Whitehouse have a lot to answer for.

Give it a go if you haven't seen it. So long as you take its age into account, you're sure of a racy, if slightly nostalgic time.

And while you're about it; you could check-out the slightly earlier 'Payroll'. There's another oldie that still hasn't lost its ginger.

Well, this wasn't the first movie about a great train robbery, and it won't be the last. But, it's one of the best I've seen: excellent cast of characters headed by Stanley Baker, a well-paced plot which concentrates on the planning and execution of the actual daring robbery in 1963; and which allowed the director, Peter Yates, to show how well he can film tight action sequences and car chases.

Speaking of the last, it was the opener - a brilliant getaway sequence through London as the robbers elude police Jaguars in their own silver-gray streak - which caught the eye of Steve McQueen who asked Yates to direct his planned movie Bullitt (1968). Good timing for director Yates, that's for sure. If you've seen both movies, you can definitely see the Yates touch....

(Ever have the feeling, though, it's a waste of time for cops to chase bad guys in cars? All through the filming of this chase, the police know it's a sliver-gray 3.4 liter Jaguar and it's registration number, all about it. Would have been easier for the cops to just hunt down all owners/dealers etc. Aaah, but we would've missed the excitement....)

Anyway ... Robbery goes through the motions of showing how it's all done, how the robbers hide, how they try to get away and, finally, how they all get caught - except for one. No prizes for guessing who that was. As straight, linear filming and story-telling goes, it's professional and highly entertaining, mixing enough gallows humour with the deadly aspects of criminal behavior to satisfy this viewer; and probably most.

Give this outing six out of ten. Recommended for all (no sex, no cuss words, no racism, no blasphemy: squeaky clean!).

May 28, 2016

Although Robbery belongs to one of my favourite British film genres, i.e. that of the sordid, sleazy gangster movie, I can't really like it. Compared to pictures such as The Good Die Young (1954), Villain (1971), The Long Good Friday (1980), Get Carter! (1971) and The Frightened City (1961), it lacks any psychological interest, and has no characters in whom one can invest even the slightest sympathy.

Another thing that doesn't help is that the leading man is the snake-eyed Stanley Baker, whose talents didn't include charm or likability. But perhaps the nastiest thing about Robbery is that it's based upon the so-called "Great" British Train Robbery of 1963, in which the train driver was very badly beaten up, which may well have contributed to his premature death a few years later. The film gives his fictional character no sympathy at all.

Moral considerations apart, Robbery is also shot in the ugliest, flattest colour I've ever seen in a modern-era film, and it feels like the longest 110-minute film ever made. I give it 6/10 for historical interest only.

Made just four years after 'The Great Train Robbery', this exciting British crime caper, carefully details the events of the most successful robbery of its day. In August 1963, a cool 2,5 million was lifted from a Royal Mail Train (valued at 47 million today). Stanley Baxter plays the criminal mastermind Bruce Reynolds. All involved were eventually caught (bar 1) but this gang have become part of British folklore and legends in criminal history. Incredibly they pulled it off without the use of guns and taking far more than expected. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser says his deepest regret in life, was not being able to accept an offer to join this outfit, because he was already "On the run!" The film in look and style seems to be a blueprint of 'The Sweeney' TV series.

Stanley Baker made a slight return to form with this thriller. Released in 1967, "Robbery" signalled the kind of movies that the British film industry would produce for the next 5 years. The story is an unofficial portrayal of the real life train robbery from 1963 and is well presented. Stanley Baker is the mastermind behind the whole scheme but has the support of a few criminal firms combined. The film makes a mistake with the opening scene. Yes, it is brilliantly done but it should have been saved for much later on. The part of the movie that depicts the robbery itself, is excellent. The first 80 minutes is very good. The rest of the running time ends up going to waste. The reason I believe this, is because "Robbery" fails to show how the police deduce where the gang members are to be found. Also, it isn't revealed how the police identify the various criminals during their investigation. They simply materialise from nowhere to make their arrests. That is down to laziness by the writers. It is a pity. There is a sterling cast on hand. Apart from Stanley Baker, there is Barry Foster, Glyn Edwards, James Booth, Frank Finlay and a very young Robert Powell in an uncredited role. A good film all the same.

English cinema was one of the best with great masters (Hitchcock, Powell and Pressburger, Mackendrick, Fisher, ...) in all genres (criminal, fantastic, war, adventure, comedy, ...). There were also a lot of very professional directors who directed nervous movies without dull scenes : Sidney Hayers, Basil Dearden, Roy Ward Baker, Val Guest, ... They had a rich filmography full of surprises, even on tv.

And of course, there is Peter Yates with this "Robbery". And it starts great with a long car chase nervously edited. Thanks to that car chase, Steve Mac Queen wanted Peter Yates for "Bullit". "Robbery" is a tense caper whose chief Stanley Baker (charismatic as always) organizes a huge robbery in the Royal Mail train. Shot in wide angle, it reserves enough twists and suspense till the "no pity" ending. Very entertaining B caper movie.

An extended near-wordless sequence, punctuated by Johnny Keating's tension-building staccato music, follows a cleverly planned diamond heist. Followed by an exciting high-speed car chase through the streets of London, the opening scenes of Peter Yates "Robbery" illustrate cinematic story-telling at its best. Although following the diamond job, the film slows to a more sedate pace, nevertheless, director Yates keeps the focus on plot and detail with a minimum of filler. After the diamond robbery, Stanley Baker as Paul Clifton re-groups his men, and, with added members, they buy into another robbery, which he promises will be the big one and net three or four million pounds. The target is the Royal Mail Train on the eve of a three-day bank holiday. Clifton's planning is meticulous and includes springing Robinson, played by Frank Finlay, from prison with an all too easy diversion ploy. While Baker and his boys proceed, police inspector Langdon, played by James Booth, heads an investigation into the diamond heist, which hones in on Clifton and other members of Baker's group.

Cutting between the robbery plans, the inspector's work, and a brief peek at Clifton's domestic life, the film is an excellent thinly-veiled dramatization of the famous British great train robbery, which took place in 1963, four years before the film was made. The scenes of domestic crisis between Baker and Joanna Pettet as his wife are probably the film's weakest; Pettet has little to do, and her presence seems little more than a gratuitous female token. However, the screenplay by Edward Boyd, Peter Yates, and George Markstein is tight otherwise, and the shift between the plotters and the police adds suspense, although viewers may identify with the unarmed robbers and cheer them on. Peter Yates's direction is top notch, although he subsequently topped the opening car chase with a more famous one in "Bullit." Featuring good performances throughout from Baker, Booth, Finlay, and Barry Foster, "Robbery" is well directed, well shot by cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, and provides excellent entertainment.

Very impressive, compelling and convincing tale based upon the UK robbery that became known as 'the great train robbery'. The prologue consists of one of the best car chases on film - yes Peter Yates another more well known one too! This one through the streets of London's West End and beyond is stunning and even has the street names relayed along the way for the benefit of the cops back at HQ (and for us to aid identification). Great stuff. But all along the way, this is riveting edge of the seat stuff with fine performances helped by excellent dialogue. From start to finish, this does not let up, and the central turn by Stanley Baker is so very good. Nothing about this predictable sounding film is as you might expect and even that boring pre-crime get together with blackboards and paper drawings doesn't take place. Indeed one meet up takes place on a football terrace (Leyton Orient) with a game in progress and there are many and varied scenes to keep this interesting and thrilling throughout.

British Peter Yates drove race cars before becoming a director and turning out some pedestrian work and a couple of respectable films, including this one and "Bullitt." Steve McQueen, another racing aficionado, having seen the spectacular car chase through the streets of London in this film, invited Yates to direct him in "Bullitt" the following year, and there is a certain concordance between the two. "Bullitt" (1968) is superior. The interrelationships are more subtle, the musical score more apt. The score in "Robbery" shrieks "generic thriller" and lacks anything like the sophistication of the flute trio in San Francisco's chic Coffee Cantata. And if the car chase in "Robbery" is thrilling -- and it is -- the high speed pursuit in "Bullitt" provides a touchstone for all the car chases that followed, from "The Seven Ups" to "The French Connection." There was never anything like it before.

Basically, "Robbery" has Stanley Baker in charge of one of those gangs consisting of specialists, one expert in electronics, another in laundering, another who knows how to be a locomotive engineer, and so forth. The heist of more than three million pounds from the Royal Mail train is tense, engaging, and a little confusing. The confusion is compensated for by the many times we see references to "Royal Mail," which sounds infinitely better than "U. S. Postal Service." "Royal Mail." It doth roll trippingly from the tongue.

No guns are displayed or used, in contrast to "Bullitt", and even in the later film there are only two brief scenes involving gunplay. The fact is that guns aren't always necessary in robberies like the one described here. Imagine, two freaky looking dudes wearing black ski masks and threatening you with crowbars tell you to drive a locomotive at 20 miles per hour, and you're a balding, near-sighted, middle-aged man. Are you going to drive that locomotive at the speed requested? You bet you are. "No guns," orders Stanley Baker. "They don't use them so we won't either." On the other hand, "Bullitt" was made in America for an American audience and the final shot is of a .38 caliber police revolver in its holster, wrapped in its shoulder harness, lying on the bathroom sink, all coiled up like a rattlesnake.

"Robbery" is a caper movie. The police are always just one step behind the gang. The gang's hideout is at a now deserted and dilapidated base called RAF Gravesley, a bomber base that once accommodated Halifaxes and Mosquitoes. It's an eerie feeling to be in a once-populated and now empty community.

I had that experience at Fort Hancock, established during the Revolutionary War to guard New York harbor from the British. It was closed during the Cold War and all its personnel departed except for a handful of Coast Guardsmen, with whom I stayed for a summer. All the empty buildings were unlocked. The hospital staff had left its microscope slides carefully packed in drawers. There was the occasional pile of 20 mm. rounds, still intact. I had a similar feeling watching the scenes shot at RAF Gravesley. It was like being in an episode of The Twilight Zone.

Overall, nice job, and an entry for Peter Yates into the Big Money of Hollywood.

Interesting flick that starts out in thumping swingin' sixties style, the opening half-hour is all class as a meticulously planned diamond heist is carried out by a cool gang of sharp-suited sixties types, followed by a storming car-chase round the streets of London. The fact that this car chase is sparked by there just happening to be a police car passing by as the gang transfer from their van to a getaway car is a clue as to what is to follow - rather reliant on coincidence, and some appalling dialogue, the rest of the film is a little disappointing but never less than reasonable crime-action story, full of faces familiar to UK TV viewers, including a young and sprightly looking George Sewell, and a baby-faced Robert Powell, before his Italian Job work and way before his eighties Hannays. Speaking of the Italian Job, a lot of the style of this film is very similar to that classic, and you can't help but think some of the ideas here influenced the makers of Caine's finest hour (a mini coming down a ramp out of the back of a speeding truck, anyone?). Not a bad film, fascinating for anyone interested in the period and genre, with its cast of faces, selection of classic motors and often hilariously dated dialogue, this is well worth a watch, but no great classic.

The curse of the Train Robbers is as effective in its own way as that of King Tut.Most of them did long spells of bird,a disproportionate number of them have died early,at least one of them has been the victim of a gangland killing,many of the others have served heavy sentences since. Not perhaps the life of Riley they envisaged back in 1963......and all because they had too much poppy. Taking about 150 grand apiece(maybe £3million today) made them seriously rich and a target for fellow villains who bled them dry for "protection" and finally grassed them up. They were awash with readies,bags of it were left in locations all over southern England to be found by delighted punters who either handed in to Old Bill or didn't. Faced with all that money,many plans went right out of the window and "Robbery" is the story of a successful crime that went wrong after they'd done the hard bit. Mr Stanley Baker is excellent as the man who keeps his head whilst all others around him are losing theirs and getting nicked.All the same,he is preparing for a lifetime of looking over his shoulder. It is the only movie I have ever seen that even remotely reflects the scintillating danger of the high - speed car chase and the excitement experienced by both the hunters and the hunted.It also makes crystal clear that serious professional criminals have absolutely no qualms about killing or maiming anybody unfortunate enough to be standing between them and freedom,be they coppers or schoolchildren. Robin Hood and his Merry Men these geezers weren't.Although they denied being involved in the robbery,all the main instigators have happily dined out on tales of their derring - do that night in Buckinghamshire 45 years ago ever since.It's worth reflecting that if Mr Jack Mills the engine driver they so brutally attacked had died,they might well have been hanged. But these good south London boys who no doubt loved their old mum all ended up doing a 30 which certainly served to discourage the others as there hasn't been a Mail Train blag since. "Robbery" is a fairly pedestrian semi police procedural enlivened only by the action set - pieces.Only Mr Baker makes much of an impression in the acting stakes,the other main roles are comfortably enough filled but it's coppering and villainy by the numbers for the most part.

A terrific thriller directed by Peter Yates. Career criminal Stanley Baker pulls together a band of thieves to rob the Royal Mail train. They're doggedly pursued by wily Inspector James Booth. A masterful heist film with great performances all around. Baker is nearly robotic in his pursuit to pull off the job. He's ably supported by cunning William Marlowe & Frank Finlay. With clever direction by Yates, including a car chase that has to be seen to be believed and a dynamite twist ending. Joanna Pettet appears briefly as Baker's exasperated wife. The cinematography is by Douglas Slocombe & the taut score is by the great Scottish songwriter Johnny Keating.

Warning: Slight possibility of a spoiler ahead!

This is the type of film that has you perched on the edge of your seat, even when watching it at 1a.m. when I was very tired.

The action, suspense and minimal acting make for a documentary feel, as if you are a fly on the wall during The Great Train Robbery.

An interesting note is that this film led to Peter Yates directing Bullitt, due in part to the chase sequence at the start of Robbery.

In some ways this is a strange film. It is loosely based on the Great Train Robbery, but for some reason, possibly legal at the time, nobody is directly portraying Ronnie Biggs or Buster Edwards etc. The car chase at the beginning is the most exciting parts. (Peter Yates, not surprisingly, went on to direct Bullitt the following year). Check out the usual ream of rent-a-hood British film character actors such as George Sewell and James Booth. They are led admirably by Stanley Baker. The main failing of this film is the fact that they lumped all the most exciting bits at the beginning. Some might lose interest half way through because you basically know what's going to happen. Also the music soundtrack is a little repetitive - in some scenes, no sooner has the theme been faded out then it starts up again. Other than that, and a bit of dubious dubbing during the car chase, the film is very watchable.