• 1960 may be the year of the heist film with The League of Gentleman in England and Ocean’s 11 on the other side of the pond.
  • Basil Dearden (one of the co-directors of 1945’s Dead of Night) directs here-and he’d go on a nice little run after this including 1961’s Victim with Dirk Bogarde and 1966’s Khartoum
  • Like Ocean’s – this has a rock solid cast- Jack Hawkins leads the ensemble, and then Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey ( he is from (or rather is) Colonel Blimp) and Attenborough. If they make this film 10 years before – Livesey is the star, and certainly a few years later it would be Attenborough but for some reason (probably being in two of the last four best pictures with River Kwai in 1957 and Ben-Hur in 1959) Hawkins was a decently big star. I mean he’s a fine actor, but never exceptional.

Like Ocean’s 11 – this has a rock solid cast- Jack Hawkins leads the ensemble, and then Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey ( he is from (or rather is) Colonel Blimp) and Attenborough

  • As far as the heist subgenre- this is ten years after Huston’s Asphalt Jungle and five after Dassin’s Rififi
  • These are ex-pats who have fallen on hard times. “I had a bloody good war” says one of them- to which his disinterested wife says “you might go off and find another one”. Much of the film is either getting the gang together or planning the heist- engaging all around. Hawkins is a born commander- precise- “I synchronize the watches” he says but Hawkins never gives off intelligence. This is a 180 from the Rat Pack oozing cool in Ocean’s. I mean Hawkins has zero charisma.
  • Few spots of humor – portrait of Hawkins’ wife on the wall-  “is that your wife? Is she dead?” to which Hawkins says “No, no- I regret to say the bitch is still going strong”
  • Heist goes at 85 minute mark for about 15 minutes- noted for the gas masks
  • At 101 minutes a great shot of Livesey in the center front of the frame—flanked by Hawkins and Patrick on the sides – easily the best shot in the film
  • obviously not part of the film- but just a phenomenal poster
  • Recommend but not in the top 10-15 of 1960