Crooks and Coronets | |
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![]() Original UK quad poster by Tom Chantrell | |
Directed by | Jim O'Connolly |
Written by | Jim O'Connolly |
Produced by | Herman Cohen Clifford Parkes |
Starring | Telly Savalas Warren Oates Dame Edith Evans Cesar Romero Harry H. Corbett |
Cinematography | Desmond Dickinson |
Edited by | Martin Charles |
Music by | Patrick John Scott |
Production company | Herman Cohen Productions |
Distributed by | Warner-Pathé (UK) |
Release date |
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Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Crooks and Coronets (U.S. title: Sophie's Place) is a 1969 British crime comedy film written and directed by Jim O'Connolly and starring Telly Savalas, Edith Evans, Warren Oates, Cesar Romero and Harry H. Corbett. [1]
Two recently released convicts, Herbie Haseler and Marty Miller, go to work for New York mob boss Nick Marco. Marco sends them to England to set up the robbery of a large English mansion. The mansion is owned by the kindly and elderly eccentric, Lady Sophie Fitzmore, who plans to pass the mansion and its priceless treasures on to her loyal nephew, Freddie Fritzmore. Sophie owns a full grown male lion named 'Bo-Bo' who is somewhat domesticated but nevertheless guards a portion of the estate. Herbie and Marty tour Lady Sophie's mansion and ingratiate themselves with the old lady. She invites them to live in the mansion with her, a windfall that will help them plan the robbery. Herbie and Marty also meet Frank Finley, the London mob contact for Nick Marco. Herbie, Marty and Finley plan the robbery and the escape route, and make general arrangements for Marco's arrival for the heist. Over time, Herbie and Marty grow fond of Lady Sophie, Freddie, and their coterie of servants. Herbie is even heard saying to Marty "You Can't Double-Cross Your Friends Marty!". At the last minute, they decide they cannot go through with the robbery. Their fondness for Sophie prompts them to prevent Nick and Frank Finley from committing the robbery.
The Fokker E.III Eindecker replica seen in the film was built and flown by Douglas Bianchi. [2] He had previously worked on period films involving vintage aircraft such as Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and The Blue Max. [3]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Rather too obviously designed with one eye on the American market, where the eccentricities of the British aristocracy are presumably still considered a strong selling point, this mildly amusing comedy is so sedately paced that even its splendidly idiotic climax is not nearly as funny as it should have been. Once the Americans are established in the stately home (which in itself takes up about a third of the film), the script can find little for them to do but sit back and watch their zany dowager lady hostess at work – the sortie to the London gambling club, for instance, serves no purpose other than to show that the lady is a dab hand at cards. The finale, with the crooks repulsed by a concerted attack involving cross-bows, a lion, and Edith Evans at the controls of a vintage German plane, is in the best Ealing tradition and almost makes up for the periods of slack. But the rest, despite amiable performances from all concerned, is very lame." [4]
The Radio Times wrote: "strange casting – a sort of Carry On meets The Dirty Dozen – gives the film a certain interest, not to mention eccentricity...but the overall tone is far too frantic and full of those terribly dated, Swinging Sixties fads and fashions." [5]
Allmovie described the film as a "delightful crime comedy." [6]
Sky Movies wrote, "at times, the pace is as sedate as the English aristocracy portrayed: but the magnificently lunatic climax is worth waiting for, as crooks ... are finally repulsed by a concerted counter-attack involving crossbows, a lion, and Edith Evans at the controls of a vintage German plane. It has to be said that Dame Edith has no trouble in beating the Americans at the acting game, either." [7]
The Great Train Robbery was the robbery of £2.61 million from a Royal Mail train travelling from Glasgow to London on the West Coast Main Line in the early hours of 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England.
The year 1968 in film involved some significant events, with the release of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as two highly successful musical films, Funny Girl and Oliver!, the former earning Barbra Streisand the Academy Award for Best Actress and the latter winning both the Best Picture and Best Director awards.
The year 1965 in film involved several significant events, with The Sound of Music topping the U.S. box office and winning five Academy Awards.
The year 1962 in film involved some very significant events, with Lawrence of Arabia winning seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American actor. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice, he is perhaps best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on the crime drama series Kojak (1973–1978) and James Bond archvillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
Kenneth Charles Cope is an English retired actor and scriptwriter. He is best known for his roles as Marty Hopkirk in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Jed Stone in Coronation Street, Ray Hilton in Brookside, Sid in The Damned and as a member of the Carry On Team.
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This is a list of players, both past and present, who appeared in at least one game for the New York Giants or the San Francisco Giants.
Jack La Rue was an American film and stage actor.
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In the 1970s in jazz, jazz became increasingly influenced by Latin jazz, combining rhythms from African and Latin American countries, often played on instruments such as conga, timbale, güiro, and claves, with jazz and classical harmonies played on typical jazz instruments. Artists such as Chick Corea, John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola increasingly influenced the genre with jazz fusion, a hybrid form of jazz-rock fusion which was developed by combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms, electric instruments, and the highly amplified stage sound of rock musicians such as Jimi Hendrix. All Music Guide states that "..until around 1967, the worlds of jazz and rock were nearly completely separate." However, "...as rock became more creative and its musicianship improved, and as some in the jazz world became bored with hard bop and did not want to play strictly avant-garde music, the two different idioms began to trade ideas and occasionally combine forces." On June 16, 1972 the New York Jazz Museum opened in New York City at 125 West 55th Street in a one and one-half story building. It became the most important institution for jazz in the world with a 25,000 item archive, free concerts, exhibits, film programs, etc.
In the late 1960s, Latin jazz, combining rhythms from African and Latin American countries, often played on instruments such as conga, timbale, güiro, and claves, with jazz and classical harmonies played on typical jazz instruments broke through. There are two main varieties: Afro-Cuban jazz was played in the US right after the bebop period, while Brazilian jazz became more popular in the 1960s. Afro-Cuban jazz began as a movement in the mid-1950s as bebop musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Taylor started Afro-Cuban bands influenced by such Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians as Xavier Cugat, Tito Puente, and Arturo Sandoval. Brazilian jazz such as bossa nova is derived from samba, with influences from jazz and other 20th-century classical and popular music styles. Bossa is generally moderately paced, with melodies sung in Portuguese or English. The style was pioneered by Brazilians João Gilberto and Antônio Carlos Jobim. The related term jazz-samba describes an adaptation of bossa nova compositions to the jazz idiom by American performers such as Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd.