CrimeThriller

Robbery

- Who says crime doesn't pay? 3 Million pounds says it does!

In this fictionalised account of the Great Train Robbery, career criminal Paul Clifton plans an audacious crime: the robbery of a mail train carrying millions in cash.

Release Date : 1967-08-01

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Oakhurst Productions

Production Country : United Kingdom

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Paul Clifton

Original Name : Stanley Baker

Gender : Male

Character Name : Kate Clifton

Original Name : Joanna Pettet

Gender : Female

Character Name : Inspector George Langdon

Original Name : James Booth

Gender : Male

Character Name : Robinson

Original Name : Frank Finlay

Gender : Male

Character Name : Frank

Original Name : Barry Foster

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dave Aitken

Original Name : William Marlowe

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ben

Original Name : George Sewell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Squad Chief

Original Name : Glynn Edwards

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jack

Original Name : Clinton Greyn

Gender : Male

Character Name : Deltic Train Guard (uncredited)

Original Name : Robert Powell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bob (uncredited)

Original Name : Mike Pratt

Gender : Male

Character Name : Policeman with Dog (uncredited)

Original Name : John Savident

Gender : Male

Character Name : Don

Original Name : Michael McStay

Gender : Male

Character Name : Chief constable

Original Name : Martin Wyldeck

Gender : Male

Character Name : School teacher

Original Name : Rachel Herbert

Gender : Female

Character Name : Freddy

Original Name : Patrick Jordan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Car Lot owner

Original Name : Barry Stanton

Gender : Male

Character Name : Seventh Robber

Original Name : Kenneth Farrington

Gender : Male

Character Name : Detective

Original Name : Robert Russell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Detective (uncredited)

Original Name : Roger Booth

Gender : Male

Character Name : Seaman (uncredited)

Original Name : Ron Charles

Gender : Male

Character Name : Prisoner (uncredited)

Original Name : Billy Cornelius

Gender : Male

Character Name : CID chief (uncredited)

Original Name : Michael David

Gender : Male

Character Name : Postal Worker on Train (uncredited)

Original Name : Ivor Dean

Gender : Male

Character Name : Hostess (uncredited)

Original Name : Julie Ege

Gender : Female

Character Name : Officer in Radio Room (uncredited)

Original Name : Hugh Elton

Gender : Male

Character Name :

Original Name : Roy Hanlon

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lorry driver (uncredited)

Original Name : Joe Lynch

Gender : Male

Character Name :

Original Name : Carlos Lagrotta

Gender : Male

Character Name : Debutante at Nightclub (uncredited)

Original Name : Linda Marlowe

Gender : Female

Character Name : Detective (uncredited)

Original Name : Tony O'Leary

Gender : Male

Character Name : Constable in Information Room (uncredited)

Original Name : David Pinner

Gender : Male

Character Name : Detective at Airport (uncredited)

Original Name : David King

Gender : Male

Character Name : Gang member (uncredited)

Original Name : Terence Plummer

Gender : Male

Character Name : Policeman Using Car Radio (uncredited)

Original Name : Carl Rigg

Gender : Male

Character Name : Woman at Airport (uncredited)

Original Name : Esme Smythe

Gender : Male

Character Name : Pipe-Smoking Detective in Police Station (uncredited)

Original Name : Guy Standeven

Gender : Male

Character Name : W.P.C. (uncredited)

Original Name : Margaret Stuart

Gender : Male

Character Name : Detective Inspector (uncredited)

Original Name : Anthony Sweeney

Gender : Male

Character Name : Delta 1 Observer (uncredited)

Original Name : Malcolm Taylor

Gender : Male

Character Name : Passerby (uncredited)

Original Name : Joseph Tregonino

Gender : Male

Character Name : Man in Line-Up (uncredited)

Original Name : Mickey Varey

Gender : Male

Character Name : Police Driver (uncredited)

Original Name : Joe Wadham

Gender : Male

Character Name : Prison contact (uncredited)

Original Name : Frank Williams

Gender : Male

Character Name : Hammer's Supporter (uncredited)

Original Name : Fred Wood

Gender : Male

Reviews

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

The Robber's Tale. 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