The Bank Job
Encyclopedia
The Bank Job is a 2008 British crime film
written by Dick Clement
and Ian La Frenais
, directed by Roger Donaldson
, and starring Jason Statham
, based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery
in central London
, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered. The producers allege that the story was prevented from being told because of a D-Notice
(now known as a DA-Notice) government gagging request, allegedly to protect a prominent member of the British Royal Family
. According to the producers, this movie is intended to reveal the truth for the first time, although it includes significant elements of fiction.
The premiere was held in London on 18 February 2008, and the film was released in both the UK and USA on 29 February 2008.
) owns a struggling car-sales garage. His friend, the photographer Kevin Swain's (Stephen Campbell Moore
) ex-girlfriend, a former model
named Martine Love (Saffron Burrows
) offers Terry a chance to earn enough money to never worry about debt again: a bank robbery in Baker Street
, London
, where she has critical details. Terry gathers his petty-criminal friends, including Kevin, a sometime pornographic
actor Dave Shilling (Daniel Mays
), a mechanic named Bambas (Alki David
), and an elegant con-man "Major" Guy Singer (James Faulkner
). While scouting the branch of Lloyds Bank
, Terry and Martine inspect the vault while Kevin and Dave case the exterior. The Soho
gangster Lew Vogel (David Suchet
), who keeps records of his police payoffs at the same branch, happens upon Dave and Kevin.
The newly-formed gang leases a leather accessories shop two lots away from the bank, and dig a tunnel
under a fast-food restaurant to reach the underground bank vault. Terry employs Eddie Burton (Michael Jibson
), one of his garage workers, as a watchman with a walkie-talkie
on a nearby roof. Martine, once caught smuggling heroin into Britain and wanting to avoid jail, has set up the gang for this job on behalf of MI5
, which desires the contents of a certain safe deposit box
, No. 118. This box contains compromising photos of a British Royal (in the film, Princess Margaret
). Martine is having an affair with ambitious MI5 operative Tim Everett (Richard Lintern
); the photos and box belong to a black militant gangster who calls himself Michael X
(Peter de Jersey
); he uses the photos to avoid trouble with the Metropolitan Police, and MI5 is charged with recovering the photos.
As the gang digs, their radio chatter draws the attention of a local amateur radio
operator, who realizes a robbery is in progress. He calls the police
, who search their ten-mile radius and listen for concrete details to pin the robbery down. Terry's crew enter and loot
the vault, as Martine goes for the photo deposit-box. A suspicious Terry opens it with her and, upon seeing the pictures, wonders if Martine has a hidden agenda. Another box has many photos of high-ranking government officials, including a minister
, in compromising positions in a local S&M brothel. The gang takes these with money and other valuables. Terry arranges for alternate transportation "to be safe", throwing off MI5 which had intended to intercept them. Guy and Bambas escape with their share and Terry confronts Martine over the photos; she explains the unfolding predicament. With the robbery discovered, the police -— corrupt ones receiving payoffs and honest ones —- began separate investigations while MI5 continues their search. Also joining the search for Terry's crew is Vogel, an organized crime
figure worried about the contents of his ledger, which lists payoffs he made to police, which was also stolen in the robbery. He informs Michael X that the Royal 'portraits' have gone missing, and Michael X becomes suspicious of Gale Benson
(Hattie Morahan
), an MI5 spy
who loves his American colleague Black Power
militant, Hakim Jamal
(Colin Salmon
), and has travelled with him and Jamal to Trinidad
, with instructions to find the Royal portraits.
Recalling the chance encounter with Dave outside the bank before the robbery, Vogel has him tortured for information. Dave breaks and Vogel's associates go to Terry's garage and kidnap Eddie, the lookout. Meanwhile, a senior government minister, Lord Drysdale, is shown photos of himself in the brothel
run by Sonia Bern (Sharon Maughan
), given by Terry to Tim and then to MI5 Executive Director
Miles Urquhart (Peter Bowles
); Drysdale and Urquhart agree to cooperate in absolving the robbers and securing them safe passage, in exchange for covering up the mess. Meanwhile, MI5 issues a D-Notice
forbidding press reports. Police simultaneously release recordings of the walkie-talkie conversations in the hope that someone will recognize the voices. These recordings are heard on the radio by Terry's young daughters, who tell their mother; her worries over Terry's absence increase. Vogel's accomplice, corrupt Detective Gerald Pyke (Don Gallagher), shoots Dave and threatens to shoot Eddie unless Vogel gets his ledger back. Vogel agrees with Terry to meet him at Paddington Station
in London. Meanwhile, Guy and Bambas are murdered by persons unknown, and Michael X has Gale killed in Trinidad by associates. Terry has Kevin give updates to Detective Sergeant Roy Given (Gerard Horan
), the officer in charge of the investigation, citing knowledge of corrupt officers under Vogel's control. He convinces Vogel to go to Paddington Station at the same time, offering him the ledger in return for Eddie's safe return.
Terry heads to the rendezvous while Martine meets Tim, her original contact in MI5, overlooking the scene. Vogel and his corrupt police arrive with Eddie, but recognize the MI5 agents and run. The deputy head of MI5 (accompanied by Lord Mountbatten
) exchanges the fresh passports Terry negotiated for the photos of the princess. Terry then chases Vogel and in a fight knocks out Vogel and his thugs, including corrupt Detective Nick Barton (Craig Fairbrass
). Detective Given, officer in charge of the true investigation, arrives to see the robbers arrested. He speaks with the MI5 officers present, who direct police to let the bank robbers go. Terry gives the ledger to Given before he, Kevin, and Eddie leave the scene. Vogel and the corrupt officers are arrested instead. Everett personally supervises Michael X's arrest in Trinidad, and has Gale's remains exhumed for reburial in Britain. The final scenes have Terry and Martine saying good-bye, and Terry and his reunited family enjoying a carefree life on their small motor yacht off a sunny beach.
The epilogue
states that the revelations about the brothel forced many government officials to resign. Scotland Yard
investigates the corrupt officers named in the ledger. It notes that Michael X was hanged in 1975 for Benson's murder and erroneously claims that his personal files are kept hidden in the British National Archives until 2054. Vogel is imprisoned for eight years for crimes that were unrelated to the robbery. The murderers of Guy and Bambas have never been found. About ₤4 million worth of materials and money were stolen from the robbery. At least 100 safety-deposit box owners neither claim insurance
nor identify the items in their boxes.
. 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 there. The robbers had rented a leather goods shop named Le Sac, two doors down from the bank, and tunnelled a distance of approximately 40 feet (12 metres), passing under the intervening Chicken Inn restaurant.
Robert Rowlands, a radio ham operator, 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." After four days of news coverage, the British authorities supposedly issued a D-Notice, requesting that news coverage be discontinued for reasons of national security, however The Times
was still reporting the case over two months later. Contrary to its portrayal in the film, a D-Notice cannot be legally enforced.
The film's producers claim that they have an inside source, identified in press reports as George McIndoe, who served as an executive producer. The film's claims that the issuance of the D-Notice was because a safe deposit box held sex pictures of Princess Margaret with London gangster-turned-actor John Bindon
. The possible connection to Michael X
is apparently based on information provided by McIndoe, though the basis and extent of his information remains unclear. The film-makers apparently have acknowledged that they made up the character Martine, and The New Yorker is apparently right to conclude that it is "impossible to say how much of the film's story is true".
The fictitious character of Lew Vogel may in part allude to pornographer and racketeer Bernie Silver
, a key figure in Soho in the 1960s and early 1970s, who was jailed in 1975 for the 1956 murder of Tommy "Scarface" Smithson; and also to later events surrounding his associate the real-life pornographer James Humphreys. After an outcry in 1972 when the Sunday People published photographs of the head of the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad
, Commander Kenneth Drury, spending a luxurious two-week holiday with their wives with Humphreys in Cyprus, a police raid on Humphreys' house uncovered a wallsafe containing a diary cataloguing detailed itemised payments to seventeen different officers. Humphreys was jailed 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. In 1994 Humphreys was jailed for twelve months for living off the earnings of prostitutes. Vogel's role as a slum landlord using Michael X as his enforcer draws on the career of Peter Rachman
, who employed Michael X in this role.
The major political sex scandal of the period was the resignation of Lord Lambton in 1973. Again the circumstances were somewhat different to those shown in the film. Lambton resigned after a photograph was circulated around Fleet Street by the husband of one of two prostitutes he was shown in bed with, smoking marijuana; along with more photographs of other "prominent people". The prostitute, Norma Levy, did specialise in sado-masochism as a dominatrix, but remembers Lambton as being "relatively straight", and if anything more interested in the marijuana. She had been introduced to Lambton in July 1972 by upmarket madame Jean Horn. The affair was subsequently investigated by DCS Bert Wickstead of the Serious Crime Squad, who had also led the investigations into Silver and Humphreys. A confusion led to the additional resignation of another minister, Lord Jellicoe
, although he had not been directly connected with Levy.
Part of the filming took place on location at the offices of Websters, 136 Baker Street where the rooftops were actually used for lookout purposes. The majority of outside shots, namely shots including the bank and adjacent shops, were done on a specially constructed set of Baker Street, to retain an authentic feel of the period and to allow for greater control of visible elements. This partial set was extended using VFX by the Australian company Iloura.
reported that 79% of the T-Meter critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 138 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes also reports that 90% of the "Top Critics" gave the film positive reviews based on 29 reviews. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 69 out of 100, based on 32 reviews.
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
written by Dick Clement
Dick Clement
Dick Clement, OBE is an English writer.Born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England, Clement was educated at Bishop's Stortford College and is best known for his writing partnership with Ian La Frenais. Generally, Clement and La Frenais write comedies, or dramas with a comic tone...
and Ian La Frenais
Ian La Frenais
Ian La Frenais, OBE, , is an English writer best known for his creative partnership with Dick Clement. They are most famous for television series including, The Likely Lads, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Porridge, Lovejoy and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.They have also written various other work...
, directed by Roger Donaldson
Roger Donaldson
Roger Donaldson is an Australian-born New Zealand film producer, director and writer who has made numerous successful movies. He was a co-founder of the New Zealand Film Commission.-Life and career:...
, and starring Jason Statham
Jason Statham
Jason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...
, based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery
Baker Street robbery
The Baker Street robbery was a robbery of the safe deposit boxes at a branch of Lloyds Bank on the corner of Baker Street and Marylebone Road, London, on the night of 11 September 1971....
in central London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered. The producers allege that the story was prevented from being told because of a D-Notice
DA-Notice
A DA-Notice or Defence Advisory Notice is an official request to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of national security...
(now known as a DA-Notice) government gagging request, allegedly to protect a prominent member of the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
. According to the producers, this movie is intended to reveal the truth for the first time, although it includes significant elements of fiction.
The premiere was held in London on 18 February 2008, and the film was released in both the UK and USA on 29 February 2008.
Plot
Petty-criminal-gone-straight Terry Leather (Jason StathamJason Statham
Jason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...
) owns a struggling car-sales garage. His friend, the photographer Kevin Swain's (Stephen Campbell Moore
Stephen Campbell Moore
Stephen Campbell Moore is an English actor, best known for his roles in the Alan Bennett play The History Boys and its subsequent film.-Career:...
) ex-girlfriend, a former model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
named Martine Love (Saffron Burrows
Saffron Burrows
Saffron Dominique Burrows is an English actress and former fashion model, who starred as Det. Serena Stevens on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lorraine Weller on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
) offers Terry a chance to earn enough money to never worry about debt again: a bank robbery in Baker Street
Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid the street out in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at a fictional 221B...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where she has critical details. Terry gathers his petty-criminal friends, including Kevin, a sometime pornographic
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
actor Dave Shilling (Daniel Mays
Daniel Mays
-Early life:One of four boys, Mays was raised in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, by his electrician father and bank cashier mother. He attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts before going on to win a place at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.-Career:...
), a mechanic named Bambas (Alki David
Alki David
Alkiviades "Alki" David is a digital media entrepreneurknown for his adoption of social media as a marketing vehicle, such as FilmOn, Battlecam and 9021go.com. David has also appeared in feature films, including The Bank Job, and on UK TV.-Background and family:David was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to...
), and an elegant con-man "Major" Guy Singer (James Faulkner
James Faulkner
James Sebastian Faulkner is a British actor, known for his many various appearance on television and in movies, usually in supporting roles.Faulkner made his big screen debut as Josef Strauss in The Great Waltz in 1972...
). While scouting the branch of Lloyds Bank
Lloyds Bank
Lloyds Bank Plc was a British retail bank which operated in England and Wales from 1765 until its merger into Lloyds TSB in 1995; it remains a registered company but is currently dormant. It expanded during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and took over a number of smaller banking companies...
, Terry and Martine inspect the vault while Kevin and Dave case the exterior. The Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
gangster Lew Vogel (David Suchet
David Suchet
David Suchet, CBE, is an English actor, known for his work on British television. He is recognised for his RTS- and BPG award-winning performance as Augustus Melmotte in the 2001 British TV mini-drama The Way We Live Now, alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Paloma Baeza, and a 1991 British Academy...
), who keeps records of his police payoffs at the same branch, happens upon Dave and Kevin.
The newly-formed gang leases a leather accessories shop two lots away from the bank, and dig a tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
under a fast-food restaurant to reach the underground bank vault. Terry employs Eddie Burton (Michael Jibson
Michael Jibson
Michael Jibson is an English actor born in 1980, Hull, East Yorkshire, England. He is married to the stage actress Caroline Sheen. His father, Tim Jibson, was the programme director of KCFM in Hull. His brother is the actor Paul Jibson...
), one of his garage workers, as a watchman with a walkie-talkie
Walkie-talkie
A walkie-talkie is a hand-held, portable, two-way radio transceiver. Its development during the Second World War has been variously credited to Donald L. Hings, radio engineer Alfred J. Gross, and engineering teams at Motorola...
on a nearby roof. Martine, once caught smuggling heroin into Britain and wanting to avoid jail, has set up the gang for this job on behalf of MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
, which desires the contents of a certain safe deposit box
Safe deposit box
A safe deposit box or wrongly referred to as a safety deposit box is an individually-secured container, usually held within a larger safe or bank vault. Safe deposit boxes are generally located in banks, post offices or other institutions...
, No. 118. This box contains compromising photos of a British Royal (in the film, Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II and the younger daughter of King George VI....
). Martine is having an affair with ambitious MI5 operative Tim Everett (Richard Lintern
Richard Lintern
Richard Lintern is a British actor. He played a young Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the 1998 film Jinnah, and an American cop in the TV movie Lost Souls. He was also in The Bank Job in 2008 playing an MI5 officer ordered to retrieve the embarrassing proceeds of a bank robbery in 1970s London...
); the photos and box belong to a black militant gangster who calls himself Michael X
Michael X
Michael X , born Michael de Freitas in Trinidad and Tobago to a Portuguese father and a Bajan-born mother, was a self-styled black revolutionary and civil rights activist in 1960s London. He was also known as Michael Abdul Malik and Abdul Malik...
(Peter de Jersey
Peter de Jersey
Peter de Jersey is a television and theatre actor. Perhaps best known for his longtime recurring role as Jerome Taylor in The Bill, he has acted in numerous British programmes. From 2000-2003 he played Steve Waring in Holby City until the character was involved in a car crash and later died in...
); he uses the photos to avoid trouble with the Metropolitan Police, and MI5 is charged with recovering the photos.
As the gang digs, their radio chatter draws the attention of a local amateur radio
Amateur radio
Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...
operator, who realizes a robbery is in progress. He calls the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
, who search their ten-mile radius and listen for concrete details to pin the robbery down. Terry's crew enter and loot
Looting
Looting —also referred to as sacking, plundering, despoiling, despoliation, and pillaging—is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as during war, natural disaster, or rioting...
the vault, as Martine goes for the photo deposit-box. A suspicious Terry opens it with her and, upon seeing the pictures, wonders if Martine has a hidden agenda. Another box has many photos of high-ranking government officials, including a minister
Minister (government)
A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
, in compromising positions in a local S&M brothel. The gang takes these with money and other valuables. Terry arranges for alternate transportation "to be safe", throwing off MI5 which had intended to intercept them. Guy and Bambas escape with their share and Terry confronts Martine over the photos; she explains the unfolding predicament. With the robbery discovered, the police -— corrupt ones receiving payoffs and honest ones —- began separate investigations while MI5 continues their search. Also joining the search for Terry's crew is Vogel, an organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
figure worried about the contents of his ledger, which lists payoffs he made to police, which was also stolen in the robbery. He informs Michael X that the Royal 'portraits' have gone missing, and Michael X becomes suspicious of Gale Benson
Gale Benson
Gale Ann Benson was a British model, socialite and daughter of Conservative MP Leonard Plugge. She was buried alive and murdered in Trinidad by local men including Black Power activist Michael X....
(Hattie Morahan
Hattie Morahan
Harriet Jane Morahan is an award-winning English television, film, and stage actress.-Background:Hattie Morahan is the youngest daughter of television and film director Christopher Morahan and actress Anna Carteret...
), an MI5 spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
who loves his American colleague Black Power
Black Power
Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...
militant, Hakim Jamal
Hakim Jamal
Hakim Abdullah Jamal was the name adopted by African-American activist Allen Donaldson, who was a cousin of Malcolm X and later became an associate of Michael X. Jamal wrote From the Dead Level, a memoir of his life and memories of Malcolm X. He was romantically involved with several high profile...
(Colin Salmon
Colin Salmon
Colin Salmon is a British actor best known for playing the character Charles Robinson in three James Bond films.-Personal life:...
), and has travelled with him and Jamal to Trinidad
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, with instructions to find the Royal portraits.
Recalling the chance encounter with Dave outside the bank before the robbery, Vogel has him tortured for information. Dave breaks and Vogel's associates go to Terry's garage and kidnap Eddie, the lookout. Meanwhile, a senior government minister, Lord Drysdale, is shown photos of himself in the brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
run by Sonia Bern (Sharon Maughan
Sharon Maughan
Sharon Maughan is a British actress.-Life and career:Maughan was born in Kirkby, Liverpool, one of five siblings in an Irish Catholic family...
), given by Terry to Tim and then to MI5 Executive Director
Executive director
Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...
Miles Urquhart (Peter Bowles
Peter Bowles
-Early life:Bowles was born in London, England, the son of Sarah Jane and Herbert Reginald Bowles. His father was a chauffeur and butler at a stately home in Warwickshire; but, upon the outbreak of World War II, he was seconded to work as an engineer at Rolls-Royce and moved the family to Nottingham...
); Drysdale and Urquhart agree to cooperate in absolving the robbers and securing them safe passage, in exchange for covering up the mess. Meanwhile, MI5 issues a D-Notice
DA-Notice
A DA-Notice or Defence Advisory Notice is an official request to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of national security...
forbidding press reports. Police simultaneously release recordings of the walkie-talkie conversations in the hope that someone will recognize the voices. These recordings are heard on the radio by Terry's young daughters, who tell their mother; her worries over Terry's absence increase. Vogel's accomplice, corrupt Detective Gerald Pyke (Don Gallagher), shoots Dave and threatens to shoot Eddie unless Vogel gets his ledger back. Vogel agrees with Terry to meet him at Paddington Station
Paddington station
Paddington railway station, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex.The site is a historic one, having served as the London terminus of the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the current mainline station dates...
in London. Meanwhile, Guy and Bambas are murdered by persons unknown, and Michael X has Gale killed in Trinidad by associates. Terry has Kevin give updates to Detective Sergeant Roy Given (Gerard Horan
Gerard Horan
Gerard Horan is an English actor. Born in Stockport, Cheshire, Horan has appeared in many of Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare films, most recently as Denis in the 2006 As You Like It. He has worked extensively in theatre, film and television....
), the officer in charge of the investigation, citing knowledge of corrupt officers under Vogel's control. He convinces Vogel to go to Paddington Station at the same time, offering him the ledger in return for Eddie's safe return.
Terry heads to the rendezvous while Martine meets Tim, her original contact in MI5, overlooking the scene. Vogel and his corrupt police arrive with Eddie, but recognize the MI5 agents and run. The deputy head of MI5 (accompanied by Lord Mountbatten
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
) exchanges the fresh passports Terry negotiated for the photos of the princess. Terry then chases Vogel and in a fight knocks out Vogel and his thugs, including corrupt Detective Nick Barton (Craig Fairbrass
Craig Fairbrass
Craig Fairbrass is an English actor. He is known for his distinctive Cockney accent.-Life and career:Fairbrass was born in Stepney, London. He made his acting debut in an episode of the television series Shelley in 1980. This was followed by appearances in series such as Emmerdale, Three Up Two...
). Detective Given, officer in charge of the true investigation, arrives to see the robbers arrested. He speaks with the MI5 officers present, who direct police to let the bank robbers go. Terry gives the ledger to Given before he, Kevin, and Eddie leave the scene. Vogel and the corrupt officers are arrested instead. Everett personally supervises Michael X's arrest in Trinidad, and has Gale's remains exhumed for reburial in Britain. The final scenes have Terry and Martine saying good-bye, and Terry and his reunited family enjoying a carefree life on their small motor yacht off a sunny beach.
The epilogue
Epilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
states that the revelations about the brothel forced many government officials to resign. Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
investigates the corrupt officers named in the ledger. It notes that Michael X was hanged in 1975 for Benson's murder and erroneously claims that his personal files are kept hidden in the British National Archives until 2054. Vogel is imprisoned for eight years for crimes that were unrelated to the robbery. The murderers of Guy and Bambas have never been found. About ₤4 million worth of materials and money were stolen from the robbery. At least 100 safety-deposit box owners neither claim insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
nor identify the items in their boxes.
Cast
- Jason StathamJason StathamJason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...
as Terry Leather - Saffron BurrowsSaffron BurrowsSaffron Dominique Burrows is an English actress and former fashion model, who starred as Det. Serena Stevens on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lorraine Weller on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
as Martine Love - Richard LinternRichard LinternRichard Lintern is a British actor. He played a young Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the 1998 film Jinnah, and an American cop in the TV movie Lost Souls. He was also in The Bank Job in 2008 playing an MI5 officer ordered to retrieve the embarrassing proceeds of a bank robbery in 1970s London...
as MI5's Tim Everett - Stephen Campbell MooreStephen Campbell MooreStephen Campbell Moore is an English actor, best known for his roles in the Alan Bennett play The History Boys and its subsequent film.-Career:...
as Kevin Swain - James FaulknerJames FaulknerJames Sebastian Faulkner is a British actor, known for his many various appearance on television and in movies, usually in supporting roles.Faulkner made his big screen debut as Josef Strauss in The Great Waltz in 1972...
as Guy Arthur Singer - Daniel MaysDaniel Mays-Early life:One of four boys, Mays was raised in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, by his electrician father and bank cashier mother. He attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts before going on to win a place at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.-Career:...
as Dave Shilling - Alki DavidAlki DavidAlkiviades "Alki" David is a digital media entrepreneurknown for his adoption of social media as a marketing vehicle, such as FilmOn, Battlecam and 9021go.com. David has also appeared in feature films, including The Bank Job, and on UK TV.-Background and family:David was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to...
as Bambas - Michael JibsonMichael JibsonMichael Jibson is an English actor born in 1980, Hull, East Yorkshire, England. He is married to the stage actress Caroline Sheen. His father, Tim Jibson, was the programme director of KCFM in Hull. His brother is the actor Paul Jibson...
as Eddie Burton - Georgia TaylorGeorgia TaylorGeorgia Taylor is an English actress, known for her role as Toyah Battersby in Coronation Street and currently for playing Ruth Winters on Casualty. She was born in Wigan, Greater Manchester....
as Ingrid Burton - Keeley HawesKeeley HawesKeeley Hawes is an English actress and model, known for many television roles. She is best known for her roles as Zoe Reynolds in Spooks and Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes and Lady Agnes in the remake of Upstairs, Downstairs...
as Wendy Leather - Gerard HoranGerard HoranGerard Horan is an English actor. Born in Stockport, Cheshire, Horan has appeared in many of Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare films, most recently as Denis in the 2006 As You Like It. He has worked extensively in theatre, film and television....
as Det. Sgt. Roy Given - Craig FairbrassCraig FairbrassCraig Fairbrass is an English actor. He is known for his distinctive Cockney accent.-Life and career:Fairbrass was born in Stepney, London. He made his acting debut in an episode of the television series Shelley in 1980. This was followed by appearances in series such as Emmerdale, Three Up Two...
as Det. Nick Barton - Don Gallagher as Det. Gerald Pyke
- Julian Lewis JonesJulian Lewis JonesJulian Lewis Jones is a Welsh actor born in Anglesey, Wales in 1968. He has appeared largely in British television in shows such as Where the Heart Is and Caerdydd. In 2009, he starred in Clint Eastwood's drama film Invictus as the head of Nelson Mandela's bodyguard team.-References:...
as MI5 Agent Snow - Andrew Brooke as MI5 Agent Quinn
- David SuchetDavid SuchetDavid Suchet, CBE, is an English actor, known for his work on British television. He is recognised for his RTS- and BPG award-winning performance as Augustus Melmotte in the 2001 British TV mini-drama The Way We Live Now, alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Paloma Baeza, and a 1991 British Academy...
as Lew Vogel - Sharon MaughanSharon MaughanSharon Maughan is a British actress.-Life and career:Maughan was born in Kirkby, Liverpool, one of five siblings in an Irish Catholic family...
as Sonia Bern - Peter BowlesPeter Bowles-Early life:Bowles was born in London, England, the son of Sarah Jane and Herbert Reginald Bowles. His father was a chauffeur and butler at a stately home in Warwickshire; but, upon the outbreak of World War II, he was seconded to work as an engineer at Rolls-Royce and moved the family to Nottingham...
as MI5 Executive Director Miles Urquhart - Alistair PetrieAlistair PetrieAlistair Petrie is an English actor. In 2007 he has appeared in The Mark of Cain, The Whistleblowers and Cranford. As well as other TV work such as Emma and The Forsyte Saga: To Let, he has also appeared in the music video for "Bellissimo" by Ilya, directed by the Guard Brothers...
as Philip Lisle - Peter de JerseyPeter de JerseyPeter de Jersey is a television and theatre actor. Perhaps best known for his longtime recurring role as Jerome Taylor in The Bill, he has acted in numerous British programmes. From 2000-2003 he played Steve Waring in Holby City until the character was involved in a car crash and later died in...
as Michael Abdul Malik a.k.a. Michael XMichael XMichael X , born Michael de Freitas in Trinidad and Tobago to a Portuguese father and a Bajan-born mother, was a self-styled black revolutionary and civil rights activist in 1960s London. He was also known as Michael Abdul Malik and Abdul Malik... - Colin SalmonColin SalmonColin Salmon is a British actor best known for playing the character Charles Robinson in three James Bond films.-Personal life:...
as Hakim JamalHakim JamalHakim Abdullah Jamal was the name adopted by African-American activist Allen Donaldson, who was a cousin of Malcolm X and later became an associate of Michael X. Jamal wrote From the Dead Level, a memoir of his life and memories of Malcolm X. He was romantically involved with several high profile... - Hattie MorahanHattie MorahanHarriet Jane Morahan is an award-winning English television, film, and stage actress.-Background:Hattie Morahan is the youngest daughter of television and film director Christopher Morahan and actress Anna Carteret...
as Gale BensonGale BensonGale Ann Benson was a British model, socialite and daughter of Conservative MP Leonard Plugge. She was buried alive and murdered in Trinidad by local men including Black Power activist Michael X.... - Angus WrightAngus Wright (actor)-Biography:Angus Wright was born in Washington, D.C., the youngest child of Virginia and Patrick Wright. His father's career in the British Diplomatic Service took the family to the Lebanon, the United States, the U.K., Egypt, Bahrain, Luxembourg, Syria and Saudi Arabia.Angus gained an M.A...
as Eric Addey, Ham Radio Operator - Les Kenny-Green as Pinky
- Jamie KennaJamie KennaJamie Kenna is a British actor.He appeared in Stormbreaker as Fox, Green Street as Big Marc, and EastEnders as Vince Franks.He also appeared in The bill....
as Perky - Rupert Frazer as Lord Drysdale
- Christopher Owen as Lord Mountbatten of BurmaLouis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of BurmaAdmiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
Historical background
The film is in part based on historical facts about the Baker Street robberyBaker Street robbery
The Baker Street robbery was a robbery of the safe deposit boxes at a branch of Lloyds Bank on the corner of Baker Street and Marylebone Road, London, on the night of 11 September 1971....
. A gang tunnelled into a branch of Lloyds Bank
Lloyds Bank
Lloyds Bank Plc was a British retail bank which operated in England and Wales from 1765 until its merger into Lloyds TSB in 1995; it remains a registered company but is currently dormant. It expanded during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and took over a number of smaller banking companies...
at the junction of Baker Street and Marylebone Road, in London, on the night of 11 September 1971 and robbed the safe deposit boxes there. The robbers had rented a leather goods shop named Le Sac, two doors down from the bank, and tunnelled a distance of approximately 40 feet (12 metres), passing under the intervening Chicken Inn restaurant.
Robert Rowlands, a radio ham operator, 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." After four days of news coverage, the British authorities supposedly issued a D-Notice, requesting that news coverage be discontinued for reasons of national security, however The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
was still reporting the case over two months later. Contrary to its portrayal in the film, a D-Notice cannot be legally enforced.
The film's producers claim that they have an inside source, identified in press reports as George McIndoe, who served as an executive producer. The film's claims that the issuance of the D-Notice was because a safe deposit box held sex pictures of Princess Margaret with London gangster-turned-actor John Bindon
John Bindon
John Dennis Arthur "Biffo" Bindon was a British actor and bodyguard who had close links with the London underworld. In numerous films, he played gangsters or tough police detective. Bindon has been described as "the archetypal actor-villain, and an all-round 'good geezer'". He was also notable for...
. The possible connection to Michael X
Michael X
Michael X , born Michael de Freitas in Trinidad and Tobago to a Portuguese father and a Bajan-born mother, was a self-styled black revolutionary and civil rights activist in 1960s London. He was also known as Michael Abdul Malik and Abdul Malik...
is apparently based on information provided by McIndoe, though the basis and extent of his information remains unclear. The film-makers apparently have acknowledged that they made up the character Martine, and The New Yorker is apparently right to conclude that it is "impossible to say how much of the film's story is true".
The fictitious character of Lew Vogel may in part allude to pornographer and racketeer Bernie Silver
Bernie Silver
Bernie Silver was a leading crime boss in the London underworld of the 1950s to 1970s, active in prostitution, pornography and racketeering.Silver's rise to prominence began with the absorption of the remants of the Messina Brothers prostitution operation into what came to be known as "The...
, a key figure in Soho in the 1960s and early 1970s, who was jailed in 1975 for the 1956 murder of Tommy "Scarface" Smithson; and also to later events surrounding his associate the real-life pornographer James Humphreys. After an outcry in 1972 when the Sunday People published photographs of the head of the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad
Flying Squad
The Flying Squad is a branch of the Specialist Crime Directorate, within London's Metropolitan Police Service. The Squad's purpose is to investigate commercial armed robberies, along with the prevention and investigation of other serious armed crime...
, Commander Kenneth Drury, spending a luxurious two-week holiday with their wives with Humphreys in Cyprus, a police raid on Humphreys' house uncovered a wallsafe containing a diary cataloguing detailed itemised payments to seventeen different officers. Humphreys was jailed 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. In 1994 Humphreys was jailed for twelve months for living off the earnings of prostitutes. Vogel's role as a slum landlord using Michael X as his enforcer draws on the career of Peter Rachman
Peter Rachman
Peter Rachman was a London landlord in the Notting Hill area in the 1950s and 1960s. He became so notorious for his exploitation of tenants that the word "Rachmanism" entered the OED as a synonym for any greedy, unscrupulous landlord.-Career:Rachman was born Perec Rachman in Lvov, Poland in 1919,...
, who employed Michael X in this role.
The major political sex scandal of the period was the resignation of Lord Lambton in 1973. Again the circumstances were somewhat different to those shown in the film. Lambton resigned after a photograph was circulated around Fleet Street by the husband of one of two prostitutes he was shown in bed with, smoking marijuana; along with more photographs of other "prominent people". The prostitute, Norma Levy, did specialise in sado-masochism as a dominatrix, but remembers Lambton as being "relatively straight", and if anything more interested in the marijuana. She had been introduced to Lambton in July 1972 by upmarket madame Jean Horn. The affair was subsequently investigated by DCS Bert Wickstead of the Serious Crime Squad, who had also led the investigations into Silver and Humphreys. A confusion led to the additional resignation of another minister, Lord Jellicoe
George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe
George Patrick John Rushworth Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, KBE, DSO, MC, PC, FRS was a British politician and statesman, diplomat and businessman....
, although he had not been directly connected with Levy.
Part of the filming took place on location at the offices of Websters, 136 Baker Street where the rooftops were actually used for lookout purposes. The majority of outside shots, namely shots including the bank and adjacent shops, were done on a specially constructed set of Baker Street, to retain an authentic feel of the period and to allow for greater control of visible elements. This partial set was extended using VFX by the Australian company Iloura.
Reception
The film was well received by critics. The review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 79% of the T-Meter critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 138 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes also reports that 90% of the "Top Critics" gave the film positive reviews based on 29 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 69 out of 100, based on 32 reviews.
Box office performance
The film grossed US$63,754,550. The film opened at #4 in North America and grossed US$5,935,256 in 1,603 theaters, averaging to about $3,703 per theatre.Soundtrack
- "Get It OnGet It On (T. Rex song)"Get It On" was covered by the Power Station in 1985. Their version – titled "Get It On " – was released as their second single from their debut album. The track was a hit in both the UK, reaching number 22 on the UK Singles Chart, and the U.S., where the song peaked at number nine on the...
" - T.Rex - "LolaLola (song)"Lola" is a song written by Ray Davies and performed by The Kinks which details a romantic encounter between a young man and a transvestite he meets in a club in Soho, London....
" - The KinksThe KinksThe Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a... - "Hey There" - The BasicsThe BasicsThe Basics are a three-piece band from Melbourne, Australia, formed by Wally De Backer and Kris Schroeder in 2002. Their style has been described as anything from 'indie-pop' to 'rock'n'roll' to 'pop-rock', though their records show they span a wide range of genres, including reggae, ska, country,...
- "Money (That's What I Want)Money (That's What I Want)"Money " is a 1959 hit single by Barrett Strong for the Tamla label, distributed nationally on Anna Records. The song was written by Tamla founder Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford, and became the first hit record for Gordy's Motown enterprise....
" - The StorysThe StorysThe Storys are a Welsh rock band from Swansea, Wales, UK, formed in Spring 2003. Their main influence is 1970s U.S. West Coast bands in the country-rock genre...
, seen early in the film as the wedding band - "Long Cool Woman in a Black DressLong Cool Woman in a Black Dress"Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" is a song written by Allan Clarke, Roger Cook, and Roger Greenaway and performed by the British pop group The Hollies...
" - The HolliesThe HolliesThe Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s... - "In the Midnight HourIn the Midnight Hour"In the Midnight Hour" is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on the 1966 album The Exciting Wilson Pickett. It was composed by Pickett and Steve Cropper at the historic Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King, Jr. would later be murdered in April 1968...
" - Wilson PickettWilson PickettWilson Pickett was an American R&B/Soul singer and songwriter.A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100... - "Gunshot" - Anthony JohnsonAnthony JohnsonAnthony Johnson is the name of:* Anthony Johnson , American film actor* Anthony Johnson , a freedman of African descent in early Virginia* Anthony Johnson , NFL running back...