Loophole (1981) User Reviews

Solid bank heist thriller

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 22 August 2017]

LOOPHOLE is one of those bank heist thrillers that were all the rage in the late '70s and early '80s. Other worthy additions to this sub-genre of filmmaking include SEWERS OF GOLD and A NIGHTINGALE SANG IN BERKELEY SQUARE. This one's a little slower-paced than those, a little grittier too; it's more of a character piece, with Martin Sheen's protagonist getting plenty of back story in particular. The heist itself doesn't occur until the climax, but it is very well portrayed with a maximum of suspense. Another highlight is the supporting cast, made up of familiar character actors, all of whom do their bit; watch out for Albert Finney and the likes of Jonathan Pryce in an early role.

Very few risks in this heist film

[udar55 · 5/10 · 24 April 2018]

Thief Mike Daniels (Albert Finney) plans to break into the biggest bank in England for one last haul. His team sets up a false office in order to interview architects with the idea they can coax the suitable candidate into mapping out their underground digging job. Down-on-his-luck American Stephen Booker (Martin Sheen) seems to be the ideal candidate for the job, but he scoffs at the idea of being a criminal. That is until he finds out his wife (Susannah York) reallllly wants to start up her interior decorating business. OH NOES! So he descends (literally) into a life of crime in order to finance her dream. The "loophole" of the title refers to the fact they will break into the vault through the ground and set off a motion detector, but when the cops arrive they will see no one inside the bank and think it is glitch. I'm a sucker for bank heist pictures for some reason and this one definitely falls into that category. Unfortunately, while it has a great cast and is well made, it really takes no risks. There is some tension in the final third as rain starts to flood the sewer system and the men must rush to get out, but even that is handled rather mundanely. Sheen also sticks out like a sore thumb and it is easy to believe the role was written for a British fellow (his wife is a Brit after all) and then changed to an American to increase potential markets. Still, it is worth a look at least once if you loves you some men digging in confined spaces.

Heist film is interesting, but still tame.

[emm · 6/10 · 8 November 1998]

LOOPHOLE has a nifty concept that sounds too good to be true, yet impossible. The unemployed American architect (Sheen) comes to England to devise a plan on robbing the safe from under the city sewers at a British bank. It actually works until.... Along the line, it's more of an adventure than a crime film, but with stars such as Albert Finney and Martin Sheen, don't get too excited about it. This really isn't your typical "bad guy" movie, rather it is tame and subtle. Both actors in their time were known to perform in novelish dramatic roles that appealed mostly to the adult crowd, so there's no modern class here, but maybe Susannah York's towel dropping scene might grab your attention. The end is peculiar and uncertain, right after you've gone through seeing a successful heist well done. All in all, an interesting movie, but if early 80s dramatic acting performances isn't your cup of tea, then you will find LOOPHOLE to be pretty boring.

A decent movie about a break in a bank.

[RodrigAndrisan · 7/10 · 4 May 2019]

Albert Finney was an exceptional actor, very good in all the movies, those made in his youth and those in his maturity. Very convincing in this "Loophole" too. Martin Sheen also does a good role as an architect forced to become thief. Susannah York very credible as his wife. All the other actors, Colin Blakely, Jonathan Pryce, Robert Morley, etc., are good. Some who wrote reviews complained that they did not understand or like the end of the movie. The guy who dies and we see him floating on the water, we can imagine that he drowned or had a heart attack. And Martin Sheen goes out of the building exactly as he tells Albert Finney he will, when the water retreats, you only have to imagine this, it's not that hard. Very pleasant surprise is the music of Lalo Schifrin, which, unfortunately, is not as great as in films like "Bullitt" or "Mission: Impossible". What's missing the movie is more suspense, that's all.

A thoughtfully planned ripoff

[lobo1955 · 29 November 2005]

A thoughtfully planned ripoff of London's largest and most secure holding bank of the safety deposit boxes, a quite improbable venture, is basis for an action movie in this nicely finished film that successfully and consistently features valuable understatement in its script. American architect Stephen Booker (Martin Sheen), working and residing in England and married to an English woman (Susannah York), is facing a depressing future after an important contract for which he and his partner have bid is awarded to a competing consulting company, leaving Booker's firm essentially fund less and paving the way for a non standardized adventure film. The newly unemployed architect's efforts to find a new position are unsuccessful, as he is repeatedly reminded by those with oversight of the jobs for which he is applying that he is "overqualified", until he is of a suddenly hired by one Mike Daniels (Albert Finney) to design a conversion of an entire city block, an assignment that will serve to elide Stephen's rampant personal debts to his banker, played very well by Robert Morley. However, after Stephen has discovered that Daniels, his new boss, is an apparent mountebank, he resigns from his new position, thereby being forced to encounter his wife's displeasure, in addition to that of his banker, so that when Daniels, a proficient safe cracker, urges Booker to rejoin him as part of a carefully selected crew of criminal specialists organized for this bank job, Stephen decides that becoming a temporary accomplice is less intolerable than becoming increasingly destitute. And so, into mid-town London's rat infested sewer tunnels goes the skilled team of burglars toward their targeted vault, but their carefully devised heist,is fraught with unforeseen complications, realistically presented here by cast and crew. Direction is excellent, focusing upon convincing detail supplied by a well-written screenplay that avoids turgid psychodrama in favor of the mechanics of a scheme that becomes of compelling interest to a viewer who will additionally find the characters of interest simply because their innermost thoughts are not voiced, and the intriguing possibilities suggested by the climax are stimulative. Finney handily earns the acting laurels, dominating his scenes with an engaging performance as an actuating criminal specialist, and there is fine playing by all members of the talented cast, with markedly solid turns from Colin Blakely and Alfred Lynch as two of Daniels' henchmen. The superb editing of Ralph Sheldon serves to intensify this well-crafted affair, Maurice Cain for always appropriate designing, and Ian Wingrove for the special visual effects, in particular when the sewer exit route to be used by the thieves is flooded following an unfocused downpour.

Ably constructed thriller

[gcd70 · 7/10 · 26 May 2010]

Tense, ably constructed thriller is a credit to some strong players and an astute director. Blessed with a clever original work (novel by Robert Pollock), but not such an ingenious screenplay, director John Quested has been able to draw out his movie and squeeze it for a few drops of decent suspense.

Albert Finney is perfectly debonair as the Englishman who has a penchant for safe-cracking. Having set his sights rather high for his next job, he employs the services of out of work architect Booker, well played by the young Martin Sheen. Susannah York, Coliin Blakely, Jonathan Pryce and Robert Morley also star.

Saturday, January 8, 2000 - Video

Heist with class cast

[oxfordch · 7/10 · 29 December 2023]

Another heist movie. This is a cut above average with an excellent cast: acclaimed British film and stage actor Albert Finney. Martin Sheen who had just been shot to fame by Apocalypse Now, alongside Johnathan Pryce,Colin Blakeley, Robert Morley, Susannah Yorke, Dinah Booker and Colin Blakeley. All respected character and lead actors.

Albert Finney plays the leader of a criminal gang whose latest raid has come up short. He plans to break into a vault containing safe deposit boxes. In order to locate the exact location of the vault, he needs the help of an architect who can pinpoint where the tunnel needs to emerge. This is where Martin Sheen comes in.

Worrth watching for the cast giving good performances.

What? Ending! Loophole-Plot Hole!

[catebaum · 3/10 · 2 August 2018]

This film was worth a look because it's got an altogether British theatre fantasy cast - and Martin Sheen, acting their socks off, until two things became apparent: Martin Sheen would never be married to Susannah York - what? Completely rubbish. She looks about twenty years older than him and completely not his type.

Then the ending, oh the ending. A very exciting downpour means the raid goes horribly wrong, and something's bound to happen, but why was Sheen left behind? Why did he make that decision? HOW DID HE GET OUT? It's like the whole film was a dream...Biggest plot hole EVER.

Dull film with a lousy finale.

[gridoon · 5/10 · 25 October 1999]

"Loophole" is a disappointingly dull, visually unappealing caper movie. I can recommend it only to genre addicts. The characters are anonymous and cold; you don't connect with them, so you don't care what will happen to them. Still, this minor picture isn't really bad...until its really LOUSY finale. Without revealing it, I can say that the "solution" the screenwriter finds to the characters' problems shows offensive incompetence on his part. The ending (presented as a twist) is simply unacceptable and I can't believe that these respectable actors agreed to play in a film that ended is such a LOUSY way.

The "so called" impossible bank heist

[Tony Rome · 9/10 · 19 August 2010]

This is a very good caper film. The crooks are very professional, and they do not use any forms of violence. Martin Sheen plays a down on his luck architect, drawn into assisting with a large bank heist involving the use of the underground sewer system. The pace of this film is slow, but it keeps the viewers interest. Jonathan Pryce appears in this film in an early role as one of the crooks. Albert Finney is great as the leader of the gang, and Colin Blakly is equally good as his assistant. Susanah York does not have much of a part as Martin Sheens wife. I give this film a nine out of ten. It is definitely worth a look. See it if you are a fan of caper films, see it even if your not a fan of caper films.

OMG WTF WAS THE ENDING ALL ABOUT ?!!!

[arabken · 5/10 · 15 December 2017]

Actually a competent little thriller , utterly and totally ruined by a lousy bewildering last 10 mins or so ! .... Honestly its unbelievable and makes no sense whatsoever !

Well done scriptwriters / director for ruining a nice little film that could have been well more regarded , but now i would tell anyone who thought of watching this movie to avoided it as it truly offers up one of the most unsatisfying and stupid endings you could ever think of !

Inspired A True Crime!

[sixfootjen · 11 February 2007]

Actually, I haven't seen the movie -- but three men in Texas rented this movie and were inspired to re-create the crime in 1984. They held a bank president's wife and daughter hostage in exchange for a ransom of $48,000. Once the money was left in a garbage can, the men used the sewer system to gain access to the false bottom of the garbage can... just like in the movie. However, the FBI arrested one of the men, who ratted out the other two, and they were all tried and convicted. Actually, they almost got away with it -- except the woman they'd counted on to be their alibi "remembered" that they'd been at her house in the afternoon, not the morning. Amusingly, the appellate court judge who heard their appeal started his summary of the case with the line, "The background facts to this case read like a movie script." There's a reason for that, Yer Honor! (If you want to read the case, it's United States v. Moore, 786 F.2d 1308.)

fantasy

[sandcrab277 · 5/10 · 4 February 2019]

I don't think writers understand what being an architect means or how they work ...its especially clear in this film because the need for an architect is totally bogus ... being an architect sounds glamorous and exciting but its a crappy paying profession that anyone interested in making money would never take on ... an architect that designs, builds and lives in that house is as rare as finding an atmosphere on the moon

How in the hell does he get out of there?

[alfeu · 1/10 · 19 May 2017]

The whole movie goes well until it reaches its 20 final minutes, when the climax is about to happen. When you think you are going to have a lot of fun and a heck of a surprise, the movie just trolls you like you have never been trolled before. At first, I thought I was on Candy Camera or that I had seen an unofficial edited version of the movie. Unfortunately, it was neither case. It is ridiculous: the movie just ends, like a thunder. Boom: and you got the credits... At first is hard to believe, then you realize that was really it. I do not understand how the other critics do not point the obvious elephant in the room which is the lack of explanation regarding decisions taken by Martin Sheen at the end of the heist (which were a key part of the plot, at that stage of the movie) and how the other guys wrap up their activities... One guy simply dies out of nothing, for no reason, and the director does not even give us the opportunity to understand what took place... He simply appears floating dead in the water... At that moment, you just do not know if things went sour for the group or if they just went sour just for that one character. You also do not know if the poor guy got unlucky due to sabotage or forces of nature. The whole movie, in general, (until its 20 final minutes) is excellent: well produced, interesting, nicely filmed and edited. The last 20 minutes, however, destroy the whole venture and turn it into one of the worst wastes of time in the history of movies. How are people not raged with the meaningless cut in the picture? I searched several reviews to see if someone discussed the drastic unexplained cut, but it made me feel like I was in the Twilight Zone... No one touches the issue. Hahahaha... I have searched several videos in YouTube to make sure I got the version and all of them were like the one I saw, with the incredible cut right in the middle of the climax of the movie. No explanation is offered regarding the most interesting (and expected) part of the movie. It is just as if the money ended and they had to come to an abrupt "abort & shutdown". I visualize the funding people arriving at the studio and saying: "Stop everything right away. Let us go with what we have so far. Thank you, gentlemen, it was a pleasure working with you." A real shame for what could have been a fantastic movie.

Experts Attempt Bank Vault Burglary In A Work Having Many Attractive Elements.

[rsoonsa · 9/10 · 2 November 2005]

A thoroughgoing plan toward husking London's largest and most secure holding bank of the contents of its safety deposit boxes, a quite improbable venture, is basis for action in this nicely finished film that successfully and consistently features valuable understatement in its script. American architect Stephen Booker (Martin Sheen), working and residing in England and married to an English woman (Susannah York), is facing a depressing future after an important contract for which he and his partner have bid is awarded to a competing contestant, leaving Booker's firm essentially fundless and paving the way for what will not be a standardized adventure film. The newly unemployed architect's efforts to find a new position are unsuccessful, as he is repeatedly reminded by those with oversight of the jobs for which he is applying that he is "overqualified", until he is of a sudden hired by one Mike Daniels (Albert Finney) to design a conversion of an entire city block, an assignment that will serve to elide Stephen's rampant personal debts to his banker, played incisively by Robert Morley. However, after Stephen has discovered from documents while developing plans for the project that Daniels, his new boss, is an apparent mountebank, he resigns from his new position, thereby being forced to encounter his ambitious wife's spleen, in addition to that of his banker, so that when Daniels, a proficient safebreaker, urges Booker to rejoin him as part of a carefully selected crew of criminal specialists organized for the bank break-in, Stephen decides that becoming a temporary accomplice is less intolerable than becoming increasingly destitute. And so, into mid-town London's rat infested sewer tunnels goes the skilled team of burglars toward their targeted vault (actually filmed within the Unilever Building upon the north side of Blackfriars Bridge), but their carefully devised heist, that will incidentally free Stephen Booker from his monetary obligations, is fraught with unforeseen complications, realistically presented here by cast and crew. Direction is excellent, focussing upon convincing detail supplied by a well-written screenplay that avoids turgid psychodrama in favour of the mechanics of a scheme that becomes of compelling interest to a viewer who will additionally find the characters of interest simply because their innermost thoughts are not voiced, and the intriguing possibilities suggested by the climax are stimulative. Finney handily earns the acting laurels, dominating his scenes with an engaging performance as an actuating criminal specialist, and there is fine playing by all members of the talented cast, quite synchronous to the refinements soaked throughout the script, with markedly solid turns from Colin Blakely and Alfred Lynch as two of Daniels' henchmen. The superb editing of Ralph Sheldon serves to intensify this well-crafted affair, not distributed within the United Kingdom, and it is salted with the valuable contributions tendered by Michael Reed and his camera, Maurice Cain for always appropriate designing, and Ian Wingrove for the special visual effects, in particular when the sewer exit route to be used by the thieves is flooded following an unforecast downpour.

Methodical, lacklustre, by the numbers storytelling

[Colbridge · 4/10 · 7 September 2022]

Despite a decent cast Loophole is a mediocre heist movie that lacks characterisation, style and tension. It's methodical storytelling which offers nothing new to the genre and a bank robbery story that has been done many times before and since to better effect like The Bank Job (2008), Buster (1988) and King of Thieves (2018), and although these were based on true stories the fictional Loophole, based on the novel by Robert Pollock, did inspire a real life criminal gang known as the Sewer Rats to commit similar robberies.

This low budget British movie made in 1981 looks more like it was made for TV than a theatrical release and is quite satisfied to simply exist than have any ambition. Albert Finney does the best he can with the material as does Martin Sheen in what looks like a cynical attempt to appeal to the US market by having an American star in the cast. He plays an architect living beyond his means and in deep debt who, despite wanting to do the right thing, accepts the bank job that criminal Finney has masterminded in the City of London by using his knowledge of the buildings' architecture.

John Quested's uninspired by the numbers direction condemns this movie to the instantly forgettable pile and it looks like most of the budget went into the underground sewer scenes in the finale. In the hands of a more visionary director it could have been much more exciting but this is a dull, plodding, lacklustre exercise and Lalo Schifrin's lousy score certainly doesn't help matters. You won't want to see this more than once if at all.

If a movie doesn't grab you from the beginning, let it go.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 12 July 2022]

It's a shame that this movie is so disappointing. It features three actors I really like: Albert Finney, Martin Sheen and Susannah York. It also has one of the most overdone plots and takes forever to get going, and outside on some great London location footage is very boring. It's obvious that films about breaking into bank vaults is one of the most obvious tropes in cinema. Recently, I've seen two movies on this subject (at least): "The Day they Robbed the Bank of England" (1958) and "Dollars" (1970) which had elements that rose them above their generic plotline. Nothing happens here until the end, and it was a struggle to stay awake for much of that hour and 45 minutes.

Sheen gets involved reluctantly because the partnership in his advertising firm has been dissolved and he needs money to help his wife start a new business. By chance he meets Finney and they spend a good 45 minutes planning the crime, so the devil in the details takes over and brings on the desire to check out. The stars do their best to try to create an interesting caper film, trying to get into the vault via the sewer, and it's as smelly as it sounds. Veteran actor Robert Morley has a small part, but the bulk of the cast are unknown actors. Not hideous, but a general lack of excitement made me wish that this was over much sooner.

An underground heist to thrill.

[tomosp1965 · 8/10 · 16 November 2022]

Ignore the low scores, this is a good film.

It's dated and seems a bit wobbly here and there, but the script and acting are excellent.

I understand why they used Martin Sheen, not because he is a fine actor, it was to get financing and possibly attract a US audience.

The movie shows that even honest people can be lured by the 'Big Payday', and commit crime. This is what the movies premise revolves around, and does it well. Martin Sheen, an architect, finds himself in a situation, where financially he is stretched by his families lavish lifestyle. He's approached to help a band of crooks pull off a heist in a banks security box room. Initially he is duped into thinking he is employed to help extend an office building, but discovers it's a ruse.

He confronts the leader of the crooks and reveals he has worked out the ruse, then is told of the real reason they approached him. He refuses to help, at first, but after his bank threatens to foreclose on his mortgage, and he realises his kids would have to leave their private schools, he agrees to help.

What follows is a classic mix of heist, greed, desperation and redemption.

I hope you watch this movie and make your own mind up.

It could do with being redone with modern techniques, script and a bigger budget.

Much more than a heist movie

[gary-64659 · 10/10 · 3 March 2020]

Wow, how refreshing to watch a truly adult film with no crap-- no cgi, no overbulked "star" flexing his muscles in your face, just a good story and a realistic theme incorporating the pressures of married life/bringing up kids, with a great exploration of an alternative morality thrown in. No wonder we have to go back to this 1981 to find it -- on tv. What a shame, but how rewarding!

Nicely done heist thriller

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 24 December 2019]

Down on his luck architect Stephen Booker (a fine and sympathetic performance by Martin Sheen) gets a much-needed job by wily criminal mastermind Mike Daniels (a sturdy portrayal by Albert Finney) in which he assists Daniels and his crew in pulling off a daring bank heist.

Director John Quested relates the absorbing story at a steady pace, grounds the premise in a plausible workaday reality, and builds a good deal of tension. The smart and compact script by Jonathan Hale not only offers an interesting underlying theme about integrity versus necessity, but also does a neat job of presenting the criminals as a likeable bunch of regular guys who just happen to steal stuff for a living as well as keeps the narrative refreshingly simple and straightforward throughout. The sound acting by the capable cast keeps this movie humming: Susannah York as Stephen's concerned wife Dinah, Colin Blakely as Mike's no-nonsense partner Gardner, Jonathan Pryce as the antsy Godfrey, and Robert Morley as fed-up bank manager Godfrey. The heist is quite gripping and suspenseful. Both Michael Reed's crisp cinematography and Lalo Schifrin's moody score are up to speed. An on the money movie.

This intelligently crafted 80s British heist thriller has a loot to shout about!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 8/10 · 3 August 2022]

This excitingly off-beat, unfairly overlooked, intelligently crafted British heist thriller has a loot to shout about! Not least being the engagingly written, tautly plotted screenplay that clearly attracted such a wealth of sublime acting talent! John Quested's dynamite crime thriller about a seasoned, tightly-knit crew of experienced blaggers planning and executing an audaciously lucrative heist has demonstratively lost none of its fascination! Alongside the razor-sharp filmmaking by Quested, the nuanced performances are irresistible, and the driving, atmospheric score by maestro Lalo Schifrin is a defining factor in elevating this engrossing narrative's dramatic intensity.

It's always a rare treat watching a finely honed, artisan genre feature with so many supremely gifted actors. Another pleasingly aspect of 'Loophole' is that the credible dramatic elements are no less robustly expressed than the frantic, thrillingly tense heist itself. The gifted director's lean, no-frills approach is remarkably effective, drawing the viewer deep into the protagonists increasingly precarious, unrelentingly harsh subterranean environment, thereby giving their pragmatic actions a stark authenticity so frequently absent in its glossier, hyperrealistic counterparts. There's one especially evocative interlude wherein the cool master thief Mike (Albert Finney) and the plainly anxious architect Stephen (Martin Sheen) silently take tea together before finalizing their partnership which proved most eloquent, and for me, rewarding subtleties like this separate the cinematic wheat from the chaff!

It's always a rare treat watching a finely honed, artisan genre feature starring so many supremely gifted actors! Another pleasing aspect of 'Loophole' is that the credible dramatic elements are no less robustly expressed than the frantic, thrillingly tense heist itself. The gifted director's lean, no-frills approach is remarkably effective, drawing the viewer deep into the protagonists increasingly precarious, unrelentingly harsh subterranean environment, thereby giving their pragmatic actions a stark authenticity so frequently absent in Loophole's glossier, hyperrealistic counterparts. There's one especially evocative interlude wherein the cool master thief Mike (Albert Finney) and the plainly anxious architect Stephen (Martin Sheen) silently take tea together before finalizing their fateful partnership which proved most eloquent, and for me, rewarding subtleties like this separate the cinematic wheat from the chaff!