THE BANK JOB
Running Time 110 minutes
Directed by Roger Donaldson
Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Fresnais
Starring Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows
Roger Donaldson’s The Bank Job, from a screenplay by Dick Clement and Ian La Fresnais, takes place in Marylebone, London, site of the largest real-life bank heist ever at a local branch of the Lloyds Bank, in 1971. What very few people knew at the time was that most of the robbers got away with most of the loot at the behest of the authorities because of the scandalous secrets the thieves accidentally uncovered at the expense of corrupt Scotland Yard detectives, lowlife porn-and-prostitution-promoting gangsters, lecherous aristocrats and even the Royal Family. Princess Margaret’s name is actually mentioned during all the film’s finger-pointing.
The comforting aspect of these revelations is that they happened safely in the past during the sour aftermath of 60’s Swinging London to the tunes of the Beatles and the Stones. The newspapers of the period headlined the crime as the “Walkie-Talkie Robbery” because an amateur ham radio operator had intercepted the gang’s messages and had notified the police that a bank robbery was taking place somewhere in Central London, within a 10-mile radius. But the exact location of the bank was never revealed by the criminals. The police checked all the banks in Central London but could find no traces of a break-in.
This was the beauty of the larcenous scheme—the robbers did not “break in” at all; instead they tunneled in from below under two adjacent shops to the inside of the vault itself. Hence, this was a “job” more for picks and shovels than for the usual electronic gear. The theft was belatedly discovered only when the Lloyds Bank, on the corner of fabled Baker Street and Marylebone Road, opened for business on Monday and hundreds of safety deposit boxes were found smashed open and looted. What few contents of the boxes the police were able to retrieve were, for the most part, unclaimed by the original owners, suggesting the age-old proclivity of safety boxes to contain the fruits of illicit economic enterprise, as well as material for blackmail by some against others.
Curiously, all newspaper speculation on the crime was suspended after only four days, the result of an alleged “D Notice” issued by the government. As The Bank Job would have it, people at some level of government were responsible for instigating the robbery itself in order to remove a targeted gang leader’s bargaining chip. This we only gradually realize as the tangled narrative unfolds.
The unlikely leader of the robbery crew is Terry (Jason Statham), a small-time used-car dealer with a shady past and a new family. Terry is always looking for a big score to wipe out his gambling debts and escape the intimidating loan-shark’s hoodlums demanding payment. When beautiful Martine (Saffron Burrows), a flourishing model from Terry’s old neighborhood, approaches Terry with an opportunity to lead a crew of his own choosing to what she describes as a foolproof bank heist on London’s Baker Street, Terry is at first hesitant. But he eventually agrees to set up the caper without telling his wife, Wendy (Keeley Hawes).
The stage is set for a series of intriguing betrayals and fatal confrontations between increasingly desperate connivers in and out of government, who make the robbers themselves look like innocent lambs being led to the slaughter. Tim Everett (Richard Lintern), Martine’s original government contact who set up the robbery, confuses matters somewhat by displaying the bearing, good looks and coolness of a James Bond hero—especially next to Terry, a worn, blue-collar specimen of midlife crisis.
Not to worry. Almost from the beginning we know that Terry is not going to be the fall guy. Back in the Good Old Days of the Production Code in America and the Censor Boards in Britain, a movie like The Bank Job could simply not be made. Every crime and every criminal had to be punished or else society would be imperiled. And no socialist nonsense about the bigger government and corporate crimes mitigating the misdeeds of lower- and middle-class miscreants. As it is, The Bank Job shapes up as one of the liveliest entertainments of the year and, in its twisted way, a genuine feel-good movie.
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