The Bank Job

Last updated

The Bank Job
Bank job ver2.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Roger Donaldson
Written by
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Michael Coulter
Edited by John Gilbert
Music by J. Peter Robinson
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
Running time
112 minutes
Countries
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • Australia [1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million [2]
Box office$66.1 million [3] [2]

The Bank Job is a 2008 heist thriller film directed by Roger Donaldson and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. It is based on the 1971 burglary of Lloyds Bank safety deposit boxes in Baker Street. It stars Jason Statham.

Contents

The producers allege that the story was prevented from being told in 1971 because of a D-Notice, to protect a prominent member of the British royal family. [4] [5] According to the producers, this film is intended to reveal the truth for the first time, [6] although it apparently includes significant elements of fiction.

The premiere was held in London on 18 February 2008, and it was released in the UK on 29 February 2008 and in the US on 7 March 2008. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and grossed $66 million worldwide.

Plot

In 1971, British Security Services (MI5) have taken interest in a safety deposit box in a particular Lloyd's Bank branch. Belonging to black militant gangster Michael X, it contains compromising photos of Princess Margaret, [7] insurance to keep the British authorities off Michael's back. Martine Love, an ex-model romantically involved with MI5 agent Tim Everett, is caught smuggling drugs into the country, and to avoid going to jail, she makes a deal with the authorities to retrieve the photos.

Martine approaches her friend Terry, a struggling car salesman with criminal contacts, and tells him that if he can assemble the gang to help her rob the bank, he will be richly rewarded, but does not tell him about the photos in the deposit box. Terry's team includes Eddie (one of his employees), Dave, Kevin, Bambas, and Guy Singer. While scouting the bank, Dave runs into gangster Lew Vogel, for whom he made pornographic films.

The gang rents a leather goods shop near the bank, tunnels below the vault, then uses thermal lance to break through the floor into the vault. They loot the safety deposit boxes, but Terry notices Martine's interest in box 118 and discovers the photos. The police are alerted to the robbery by a ham radio operator who overhears the gang's walkie-talkie communications, but by the time they locate the bank, the gang has already fled. The robbery rattles important figures who used the bank, including Lew Vogel, who kept a ledger of police payoffs inside. He notifies Michael X in Trinidad, who deduces Gale Benson— the lover of his associate Hakim Jamal—is spying for MI5, and murders her. Vogel decides Dave’s presence outside that bank was not a coincidence, and has him kidnapped and tortured for information. Dave gives in, and Lew has Gerald Pyke and Nick Burton—two policemen working on his payroll—kidnap Eddie at Terry's garage. Meanwhile, Terry discovers explicit photographs of government officials among their loot and uses them to secure passports and new identities for the gang.

Vogel's men track down and murder Bambas and Guy Singer. Eddie refuses to cooperate with Vogel, who has Gerald execute Dave and threatens to kill Eddie unless Terry surrenders the ledger; Terry agrees to meet up with Vogel at Paddington Station to exchange the ledger. He arranges for the meeting to happen at the same time as he will be picking up the new passports and immunity from prosecution from MI5 and Lord Mountbatten in exchange for the pictures of Princess Margaret. Meanwhile, Terry sends Kevin to cop Roy Given with a page torn from the ledger. Spooked, Vogel tries to flee, but Terry attacks and beats him—only to be arrested by the police. However, Given has Terry released and uses the information he supplied to arrest Lew, Gerald and Nick. Michael X is arrested as well and after Benson's body is found, his house is burned down. Eddie inherits Terry's car dealership, while Kevin and Martine prepare to begin separate new lives with their respective shares of the money. Terry and his family leave England.

Vogel's ledger causes Scotland Yard to undergo a major corruption purge in the police force. The activities of Sonia Bern's brothels make several senior officials resign. Michael X is hanged in 1975 for the murder of Gale Benson and his file in the British National Archive remains classified until 2054. Lew Vogel is sentenced to 8 years in prison. Hakim Jamal is murdered in 1973. The murders of both Bambas and Guy Singer are never solved. The loot taken from the robbery consists of £4 million.

Cast

Historical background

The film is in part based on historical facts about the Baker Street robbery. A gang tunnelled into a branch of Lloyds Bank at the junction of Baker Street and Marylebone Road in London on the night of 11 September 1971 and robbed the safe deposit boxes that were stored in the vault. The robbers had rented a leather goods shop named Le Sac two doors down from the bank, and tunnelled approximately 40 feet (12 metres), passing under the Chicken Inn restaurant that was located between the shop and the bank. [5] The tunnelling took three weeks, working on weekends. [5]

Ham radio operator Robert Rowlands overheard conversations between the robbers and their rooftop lookout. He contacted police and tape-recorded the conversations, which were subsequently made public. The film includes lines recorded by Rowlands, such as the lookout's comment that "money may be your god, but it's not mine, and I'm fucking off." [8]

The film's producers said that they have a source, identified in press reports as George McIndoe, who was an executive producer. [9] McIndoe claimed that he had talked with two of the gang, who even visited the film set. [10] The film's plot includes a fictional issue of a D-Notice by MI5, requesting no further press reports on grounds of national security because a safe deposit box holding sexually compromising pictures of Princess Margaret. [9] The possible connection to Michael X is based on material from McIndoe, who said he had spoken to two men who claimed they were involved robbers. [11] The Daily Mirror interviewed a convicted robber who claims to be a perpetrator, and he indicated that embarrassing photos were found but deliberately left behind for the police, including child pornography. [5] The film-makers acknowledged that they made up the character Martine, and David Denby wrote in The New Yorker that it is "impossible to say how much of the film's story is true". [12]

The fictional character of Lew Vogel may allude to pornographer and racketeer Bernie Silver, [10] a major figure in Soho in the 1960s and early 1970s who was imprisoned in 1975 for the 1956 murder of Tommy "Scarface" Smithson, and also to later events surrounding his associate pornographer James Humphreys. The Sunday People published photographs in 1972 of Commander Kenneth Drury, the head of the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad, spending a luxurious two-week holiday with Humphreys in Cyprus, and a police raid on Humphreys' house uncovered a diary cataloguing itemised payments to 17 police officers. Humphreys was imprisoned for eight years in 1974 for wounding his wife's former lover. He then turned Queen's Evidence, testifying against some of Scotland Yard's most senior officers in two major corruption trials in 1977, for which he received a Royal Pardon and was released from prison. [13] In 1994, Humphreys was imprisoned for 12 months for living off the earnings of prostitutes. [14] [15]

The introduction of Michael X's character showing him leading a landlord locked in a slave collar is based on a historical incident. [16] A passing glance at a photo of John Lennon found in Michael X's safety deposit box is inspired by Lennon's support for Michael X's "Black House" headquarters depicted in the film, and Lennon posting his bail. [17]

Production

Screenshot illustrating how a special outdoor set was constructed for production of the film. Bankjob street set.jpg
Screenshot illustrating how a special outdoor set was constructed for production of the film.

Part of the filming took place on location at the offices of Websters, 136 Baker Street, where the rooftops were used for lookout locations. The exterior scenes of the bank and adjacent shops were done at Pinewood Studios on a specially constructed set of Baker Street, to retain an authentic feel of the period and to allow for greater control. This partial set was extended using visual effects. [18]

The production also shot on location inside the Aldwych Underground station, and at Paddington station as itself. The crew used Chatham Historic Dockyard to shoot the sequence at the side entrance of Paddington, where the final showdown between Terry and Lew Vogel takes place. [19]

Reception

Critical response

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 80% of 148 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Well cast and crisply directed, The Bank Job is a thoroughly entertaining British heist thriller." [20] Metacritic reports the film has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [21] Audiences polled by CinemaScore graded the film an average "B+" on an A+ to F scale. [22]

Box office

The Bank Job grossed $30.1 million in the United States and Canada, as well as $36.1 million in other territories (including $8.1 million in the UK), for a worldwide total of $66.1 million. [2]

The film opened at No. 4 in North America and grossed US$5.9 million in 1,603 cinemas in its opening weekend. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Train Robbery (1963)</span> 1963 robbery in Ledburn, England

The Great Train Robbery was the robbery of £2.61 million, from a Royal Mail train heading 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank robbery</span> Crime of stealing from a bank using violence

Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank-owned property, such as a train, armored car, or (historically) stagecoach. It is a federal crime in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Brink's Robbery</span> 1950 security company robbery

The Great Brink's Robbery was an armed robbery of the Brink's building in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1950. The $2.775 million theft consisted of $1,218,211.29 in cash and $1,557,183.83 in checks, money orders, and other securities. It was at the time the largest robbery in the history of the United States and has been called "the crime of the century". The robbery remained unsolved for nearly six years, until estranged group member Joseph O'Keefe testified only days before the statute of limitations would have expired.

<i>Taxi</i> (2004 film) 2004 film by Tim Story

Taxi is a 2004 action comedy film directed by Tim Story and starring Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, Gisele Bündchen, Jennifer Esposito, and Ann-Margret. An incompetent New York City police officer is banned from driving and comes to rely on a talented taxi driver to help him solve a series of bank robberies. The film is a remake of the 1998 French film of the same name and was panned by critics.

<i>BMX Bandits</i> (film) 1983 Australian crime comedy action film

BMX Bandits is a 1983 Australian crime comedy action film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith and starring Nicole Kidman.

<i>Dhoom</i> 2004 film by Sanjay Gadhvi

Dhoom (transl. Blast) is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Sanjay Gadhvi and written by Vijay Krishna Acharya, based on a story by producer Aditya Chopra. The film stars Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Uday Chopra, Esha Deol and Rimi Sen. It is the first installment of the Dhoom franchise. The cinematography was handled by Nirav Shah, while the soundtrack and background score were composed by Pritam, and Salim–Sulaiman respectively.

<i>Two Hands</i> (1999 film) 1999 Australian film

Two Hands is a 1999 Australian comedy crime film written and directed by Gregor Jordan. The film stars Heath Ledger as Jimmy, a young man in debt to Pando, a local gangster played by Bryan Brown, and also stars Rose Byrne, David Field, and Susie Porter. It won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film in 1999. It was filmed in 1998 but was not released in Australia until 29 July 1999. Before its release, it was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States but was not released to DVD in the US until December 2005.

<i>Robbery</i> (1967 film) 1967 British film

Robbery is a 1967 British crime film directed by Peter Yates and starring Stanley Baker, Joanna Pettet and James Booth. The story is a heavily fictionalised version of the 1963 Great Train Robbery. The film was produced by Stanley Baker and Michael Deeley, for Baker's company Oakhurst Productions.

<i>The Doberman Gang</i> 1972 film

The Doberman Gang is a 1972 film about a talented animal trainer who prepares a pack of six Doberman Pinschers to commit a bank robbery at the behest of a ruthless heist planner. The six dogs were all named after famous bank robbers. Their names were Dillinger, Bonnie, Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, and Ma Barker.

<i>You Only Live Once</i> (1937 film) 1937 film by Fritz Lang

You Only Live Once is a 1937 American crime drama film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda. Considered an early film noir, the film was the second directed by Lang in the United States. At least 15 minutes were trimmed from the original 100-minute version of the film due to its then unprecedented violence. Despite the removal of such scenes, the film is widely considered an early film noir classic. The film is also known for being one of the first box-office bombs.

<i>The Great Riviera Bank Robbery</i> 1979 British film

The Great Riviera Bank Robbery, also known as Dirty Money and Sewers of Gold, is a 1979 British heist film written and directed by Francis Megahy and starring Ian McShane, Warren Clarke, Stephen Greif and Christopher Malcolm. In the film, based on a bank robbery masterminded by Albert Spaggiari in 1976, members of a neo-fascist group team up with professional criminals to rob the safe deposit vault of a bank in a French resort town.

<i>The Friends of Eddie Coyle</i> (novel) 1970 novel by George V. Higgins

The Friends of Eddie Coyle, published in 1970, is the debut novel of George V. Higgins, then an Assistant United States Attorney in Boston. The novel is a realistic depiction of the Irish-American underworld in Boston. Its central character is the title character Eddie Coyle, a small-time criminal and informant.

<i>How to Rob a Bank</i> 2007 American film

How to Rob a Bank is an American independent crime comedy film. It finished filming in March 2006. It premiered at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival, and opened in limited release in the United States on February 8, 2008. The film is about a man who gets caught in the middle of a bank robbery, ending up in the vault with one of the robbers he then treats as a hostage. After grossing $1,006 in the domestic market, the film was released on DVD on September 2, 2008. The film makes many references to the famous British pop band Duran Duran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baker Street robbery</span> 1971 burglary of a bank in London, England

The Baker Street robbery was the burglary of safety deposit boxes at the Baker Street branch of Lloyds Bank in London, on the night of 11 September 1971. A gang tunnelled 40 feet (12 m) from a rented shop two doors away to come up through the floor of the vault. The value of the property stolen is unknown, but is likely to have been between £1.25 million and £3 million; only £231,000 was recovered by the police.

<i>Takers</i> 2010 American film

Takers is a 2010 American heist action thriller film directed by John Luessenhop from a story and screenplay written by Luessenhop, Gabriel Casseus, Peter Allen, and Avery Duff. It features Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez, Michael Ealy, Tip "T.I." Harris, Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen, and Zoe Saldana in an ensemble cast. The film was released on August 27, 2010.

<i>Ho!</i> 1974 film

Ho! is a 1968 French-Italian crime film directed by Robert Enrico and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. It is based on the 1964 novel Ho! by José Giovanni.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary</span> 2015 theft from an underground vault in Holborn, London

In April 2015, an underground safe deposit facility in Hatton Garden, London, owned by Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd., was burgled.

<i>King of Thieves</i> (2018 film) 2018 British film by James Marsh

King of Thieves is a 2018 British heist film directed by James Marsh. The film is based on the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary of 2015, and stars Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon, Charlie Cox, Jim Broadbent, Paul Whitehouse and Ray Winstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandler's Ford shooting</span> Attempted robbery in England in 2007

The Chandler's Ford shooting was the shooting of armed robbers in the town of Chandler's Ford, Hampshire, in southern England, on 13 September 2007. Two men were shot dead by Metropolitan Police officers while they were robbing a cash-in-transit van at gunpoint. The Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad had been tracking a gang of armed robbers from South London who were estimated to have stolen £500,000 from 18 robberies of security vans. The Flying Squad received intelligence that the gang intended to target the HSBC branch in Chandler's Ford and planned to lie in wait and apprehend the suspects as they attempted the robbery.

Hatton Garden: the Heist is a British action film of 2016, based on the true story of the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary in Hatton Garden, London, in April 2015, carried out by a group of elderly career criminals.

References

  1. ↑ "LUMIERE : Film #30087 : The Bank Job". lumiere.obs.coe.int.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Bank Job Box Office Data". The Numbers. Nash Information Services. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  3. ↑ "The Bank Job (2008)". Box Office Mojo. 5 June 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  4. ↑ Thorpe, Vanessa (11 March 2007). "Untold story of Baker Street bank robbery". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Bank job that opened the door on a royal sex scandal". Daily Mirror. 16 February 2008. Archived from the original on 18 February 2008.
  6. ↑ Production Information Archived 2 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine , Lionsgate UK website, Accessed 9 January 2008
  7. ↑ "How MI5 raided a bank to get pictures of Princess Margaret". Evening Standard . London. 20 May 2007. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  8. ↑ "Untold story of Baker Street bank robbery". the Guardian. 11 March 2007.
  9. 1 2 Lawrence, Will (15 February 2008). "Revisiting the riddle of Baker Street". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  10. 1 2 Byrnes, Paul (26 July 2008) "Review: The Bank Job", Sydney Morning Herald
  11. ↑ Jones, J.R. (7 March 2008). "What's the real story behind The Bank Job?". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  12. ↑ Denby, David (10 March 2008). "Class Acts: 'The Bank Job' and 'The Duchess of Langeais'". The New Yorker. Retrieved 17 March 2008.
  13. ↑ Barry Cox, John Shirley and Martin Short (1977). The Fall of Scotland Yard. Penguin Books. ISBN   0-14-052318-9.
  14. ↑ 'Emperor of porn' jailed for running prostitution ring, The Independent, 2 July 1994
  15. ↑ Andrew Weir, Jimmy and Rusty, The Independent, 4 July 1994
  16. ↑ Naughton, Philippe (23 June 1970). "Man In Michael X Centre led in 'slave collar'". The Times. London. Retrieved 13 November 2008.
  17. ↑ Bill Harry, The John Lennon Encyclopedia.
  18. ↑ "The Bank Job. Making Of". iloura. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011.
  19. ↑ Kent Film Office. "Kent Film Office The Bank Job Film Focus". Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  20. ↑ "The Bank Job (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
  21. ↑ "The Bank Job Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 March 2008.
  22. ↑ "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Bank Job" in the search box). CinemaScore . Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  23. ↑ "The Bank Job (2008) – Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved 10 March 2008.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.