A Gritty UK Gang Goes Train Robbing

Stanley Baker and His Robbery (1967) Team

This was a UK nail-biter that got Peter Yates his job directing Bullitt, Steve McQueen having been impressed with how he handled fast-car action here. Co-producing Robbery was Stanley Baker, that hard-edge gift to British thesping who by '67 was looking to match success that was his Zulu from 1964. Robbery was inspired by a Great Train Robbery that rocked the Isles --- no crime had approached it for daring or scope. There'd be numerous yarns spun off this escapade, Robbery among better ones. Shot on streets and hideouts around underbelly London, it is antidote to Carnaby/mod moods that had lately lulled us to belief that UK streets were yellow brick. Caper planning looks now so low-tech that I never for a moment thought it would work, despite to-last-detail prep. British master crimes somehow tend to come a worse cropper than even our own, although one of these miscreants does get away, which I found refreshing. Otherwise, it's The Asphalt Jungle flying a Union Jack, a worthy enough pursuit, as such yarns never lose their capacity to please.