Robbery (1967) User Reviews

Tightly done, no nonsense caper, Yates style

[mim-8 · 7/10 · 17 June 2009]

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.

The Robber's Tale.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 26 February 2014]

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

"How did you know she was a school teacher?"

[ShadeGrenade · 8/10 · 3 August 2008]

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.

Definitely captures the mood of 60s underworld London

[richard-payne-2 · 15 September 2004]

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.

Precision and Speed.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 16 April 2017]

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.

By turns exciting, thrilling and rushed.

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 7/10 · 1 December 2018]

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.

Good action piece -- although probably very dated by now.

[Pedro_H · 7/10 · 6 November 2005]

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.

Best British crime film ever...

[frankiehudson · 10/10 · 11 July 2002]

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.

Worth a dekko for the long-lost London

[joachimokeefe · 7/10 · 14 June 2020]

An ambitious, fictionalized account of the 1963 'Great Train Robbery' - which only takes up the last third or so. The rest is car chase (excellent, by the next-year director of Bullitt), London in the late sixties full of British cars, Leyton Orient Football Club (before big money got into soccer), and Stanley Baker not showing much emotion as he plans the train heist with various guys who were sooner or later to appear in Minder, The Sweeney, The Professionals, etc either as cops or robbers.

To be honest, while the build-up is slow and steady, and the fairly tense robbery itself is done music-free in the Rififi manner, the final collapse of the caper is an anti-climax in true Sweeney style; a gang of Cockney robbers is completely overwhelmed by three police Jaguars.

Except of course that Stanley Baker (Paul Clifton) gets away. Perhaps putting a question mark in the The End (The?End) is a clue that the storylining department ran out of steam.

Much better than 'Buster', all the same.

The Big Job

[richardchatten · 9/10 · 30 July 2022]

The terseness of the one-word title perfectly fits the low-keyed demeanour of this laconic heist movie that just a couple of years earlier would have been shot in black & white but now had to be in colour (but with results so pleasing to the eye I'm not complaining).

The initial car chase promptly brought Peter Yates to America to repeat the trick but seeing it staged in the narrow streets of London rather than in San Francisco in 'Bullitt' (which could have been built for the job) the results were thus ten times more harrowing; and the film that follows is far more coherent.

A great, early Peter Yates effort...

[JasparLamarCrabb · 7/10 · 12 March 2011]

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.

The Hidden British Gem that Bullitted Yates to America

[TheFearmakers · 9/10 · 5 July 2021]

Best known as the little obscure crime film that gave English director Peter Yates his big game-changing opportunity to make BULLITT stateside, after Steve McQueen had witnessed the rudimentary car chase sequence from ROBBERY, an extremely sparse, deliberately uncaring British Neo Noir Heist-Thriller...

And it's not just the chase that Yates carried over to the McQueen classic but the meticulous and metronomic moments leading up to it...

Starring the always tough/ultra square-jawed Stanley Baker but only because he's in charge, ROBBERY makes pretty much equal use of the male leads...

Including James Booth as the trailing cop, William Marlowe as Baker's strong-silent second, Barry Forster as his strong-silent third while Frank Finlay, as a meek/geek though crooked banker too-easily broken out of prison, is the most vulnerable and sympathetic...

Yet there's very little sympathy for these particular devils, whose only flaw is how long and tediously methodical it takes for the actual train heist (inspired by The Great Train Robbery) to go down... the director not always considering an audience but, like real life crimes - and even the McQueen ultra-realistic police-procedure about the other side of the law - Yates showcases the slowburn reality like being right there, for better or worse since it's not always extremely exciting, and that's the point...

Just don't let the casting of beautiful poster-perfect Joanne Pettit fool you. ROBBERY cares neither about romance or the human condition.

Too much poppy.......

[ianlouisiana · 6/10 · 23 June 2008]

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.

Robbery with violence

[that_ealing_feeling · 6/10 · 17 April 2009]

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.

Where robbery might be fun for some, including the viewers.

[RJBurke1942 · 6/10 · 28 May 2016]

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

the leader of a team of crooks devises a complicated train robbery

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 17 December 2021]

Robbery from 1967 stars Stanley Adams, Joanna Pettet, James Booth, and Frank Finlay.

Adams plays Paul Clifton, the head of a team of crooks who comes up with a plan to rob a mail train of the between $3 million and $4 million it will carry on a bank holiday. He takes the preparation very seriously, down to the minute, and the film shows the painstaking process.

The breathtaking London car chase caused Steve McQueen to ask the director, Peter Yates, to direct Bullitt.

Based on the 1963 Glasgow Train Robbery, the film actually starts with a diamond robbery, which introduces us to the main players. Then various people are gathered to participate in this difficult heist, followed by the actual robbery, the clever hiding place, and denoument.

The only part of the film that seems superfluous is the home life of Paul Clifton, featuring Joanna Pettet as his wife. I suppose it was to show that he was cold and determined, but it wasn't needed.

The end was a little different from what really happened. Enjoyable.

Classic Sixties caper movie.

[lampton · 10/10 · 1 December 1998]

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.

A fairly decent crime flic from the reliable Peter Yates.

[MOscarbradley · 6/10 · 18 May 2023]

Peter Yates' "Robbery" may be based on the Great Train Robbery but it begins with a spectacular car chase through the streets of London after a robbery of a lesser kind. It may not be up to the standard of Yates' later "Bullitt" or "The French Connection" but as car chases go it does the business and sets the scene for an above average crime flic and one that's been largely forgotten.

Stanley Baker, who also co-produced, is the mastermind and other villains include Barry Foster, Frank Finlay, George Sewell, Clinton Greyn and William Marlowe while an unlikely James Booth is on the side of the law. It came at the tail-end of a good period for British crime movies and was probably influential in giving Yates his break in America. Joanna Pettet gets star billing as Baker's wife but may as well not be in the picture.

A great British 1960s gangster film

[michael-blank · 10/10 · 6 April 2006]

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.

Stylish yes, influential probably, good...weeelll, maybe

[thehumanduvet · 7/10 · 13 July 2000]

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.

Top-Notch British Crime Caper

[zardoz-13 · 10/10 · 23 May 2012]

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. "Robbery" differs in many respects from the actual caper. The gang base their operations in a deactivated RAF airbase, and the robbers tip their hand during the robbery when they warn the passengers to wait a half-hour before they sound the alarm. Furthermore, one of their own winds up blowing the whole effort when he tries to contact his wife. This clueless bloke is a prisoner who has only recently escaped from prison (it's a wonderful little vignette) and he rings up Scotland Yard and they track down his number. Meantime, Yates covers the meticulous planning that went into the actual robbery. The opening gambit automobile chase through crowded London streets in broad daylight is riveting stuff! You won't forget this timeless thriller.

Engrossing heist thriller

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 21 May 2021]

ROBBERY is yet another British heist film, heavily influenced by the real-life Great Train Robbery which filled headlines a few years previously. Director Peter Yates, of BULLITT fame, does a good job handling the proceedings, injecting the requisite suspense and yes, there's another decent car chase here too. The ensemble cast is spearheaded by a typically tough and taciturn Stanley Baker and features solid turns from the likes of Barry Foster, George Sewell and Frank Finlay. The robbery takes up the second half and is handled realistically with a minimum of intrusive music, and the whole thing is quite engrossing.

More of an experiment in style than in proper film-making.

[SteveSkafte · 6/10 · 28 April 2010]

If there's a main flaw to "Robbery", it's the obsession with process and style. The characters are simply not a high enough concern here. There's certainly some good performances. William Marlowe, especially, has the perfect face for this sort of film. Peter Yates is a great director, but he displays only hits of the brilliance displays in later films like "Bullitt", "The Friends of Eddie Coyle", or even "The Hot Rock". All three films cover similar material, but this is the only one that is drowned in documentarian detail.

There's not a lot more to say. If you're a fan of Yates, this was a important starting point for him. And the opening car chase is certainly thrilling. You just might enjoy this enough on the first watch.

Starts off brilliantly but loses interest

[foz-3 · 3 December 1999]

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.

Glamourising crime

[malcolmgsw · 6/10 · 19 January 2020]

I have only just watched a DVD of this film,as I had ignored its cinema release.I felt that it glamourised the crime and I still believe that.The criminals have their way till the last 5 minutes of the film.Interesting to see central London in 1967.The initial robbery chase made me laugh as the car travels along High Holborn and turns into Trafalgar square which is a couple of miles away.