Jaye (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jayes_musings) wrote2008-09-10 05:28 pm
jayes_musings) wrote2008-09-10 05:28 pm
Entry tags:
Movie: The Bank Job
Oh, I loved this movie! It's been a while since I've watched a Brit gangster/heist movie, and this one satisfied most nicely. Not only did it star Jason Statham in a role much more akin to his early Guy Ritchie film roles rather than the Hollywood action star, but it was written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais...and watching it I expected Bodie and Doyle to turn up any moment, but they didn't. It was that reminiscent of The Professionals with the bank heist, dirty cops, underhanded Spooks, and political aggitators.
Set in 1971, it was based on a true story, where a gang of bank robbers raided the vault of a London bank and stole approximately 4 million pounds from safety deposit boxes. However, it wasn't the only thing they stole...in one of the boxes were photos of an unnamed royal that would have caused a massive scandal, as well as plenty of other, separate incriminating articles for important people. Several members of the government resigned as a result.
Now, where fact and fiction can be separated, I don't know...I don't know enough about the case as I was only four at the time, but even if much of it is invented for dramatic purposes...it's a great heist film. And you do find yourself wanting to see what happens to all the gang as a result.
The plot: Terry Leather, a used car dealer who owes some big time gangsters money is approached by an ex-girlfriend (kinda) to rob a bank. He sees this as his chance to step up from being very small-time to the First Division. Recruiting his friends they plan and succeed in the raid. What he only finds out then is the real reason for the heist. A radical black activist has compromising photos of a royal in his safety deposit box to blackmail the government into not prosecuting him. MI? (it's never made clear which one, though probably 6) wants those photos, but want to keep their own hands clean, so turn to amateurs. The heist itself is the easy part...staying alive after, not so easy. With the incriminating photos, Terry has to do a deal with MI?, keep a porn king/gangster off his back, AND get away scot-free.
Good Times! And I want to watch some Pros now!!
Set in 1971, it was based on a true story, where a gang of bank robbers raided the vault of a London bank and stole approximately 4 million pounds from safety deposit boxes. However, it wasn't the only thing they stole...in one of the boxes were photos of an unnamed royal that would have caused a massive scandal, as well as plenty of other, separate incriminating articles for important people. Several members of the government resigned as a result.
Now, where fact and fiction can be separated, I don't know...I don't know enough about the case as I was only four at the time, but even if much of it is invented for dramatic purposes...it's a great heist film. And you do find yourself wanting to see what happens to all the gang as a result.
The plot: Terry Leather, a used car dealer who owes some big time gangsters money is approached by an ex-girlfriend (kinda) to rob a bank. He sees this as his chance to step up from being very small-time to the First Division. Recruiting his friends they plan and succeed in the raid. What he only finds out then is the real reason for the heist. A radical black activist has compromising photos of a royal in his safety deposit box to blackmail the government into not prosecuting him. MI? (it's never made clear which one, though probably 6) wants those photos, but want to keep their own hands clean, so turn to amateurs. The heist itself is the easy part...staying alive after, not so easy. With the incriminating photos, Terry has to do a deal with MI?, keep a porn king/gangster off his back, AND get away scot-free.
Good Times! And I want to watch some Pros now!!