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STANLEY BAKER IN THE BRITISH NEO NOIR HEIST FLICK 'ROBBERY'

Title: ROBBERY Director: Peter Yates Star: Stanley Baker Year: 1967 Rating: ****1/2

Best known as the obscure crime film that gave English director Peter Yates his big game-changing opportunity to make BULLITT stateside, after Steve McQueen had witnessed the rudimentary car chase sequence from ROBBERY, overall a sparse, deliberately cold/heartless British Neo-Noir Heist-Thriller... 

And it's not just this initial chase (literally driven by Clinton Greyn) that Yates carried over to the McQueen classic, but also the strategically metronomic moments leading up...

James Booth in ROBBERY

Starring the always tough/ultra square-jawed Stanley Baker (who specialized in British Noir since the 1950's from BEAUTIFUL STRANGER to HELL DRIVERS to HELL IS A CITY)  but mainly because he's in charge ("I'm paying for  nerve, not nerves") — ROBBERY actually makes pretty much equal use of all male leads...

Particularly James Booth, going beyond the token cop role in what begins as his own first-act picture, subtly trailing driver Clinton Greyn before William Marlowe as Baker's strong-silent second with Barry Forster his strong-silent third while Frank Finlay, as a meek yet dishonest banker too-easily broken out of prison, is the most vulnerable and sympathetic...

Clinton Greyn in ROBBERY

Yet there's very little sympathy for these devils, whose only flaw is how long and tediously methodical it takes for the actual train heist to go down... the director not always considering an audience but, like real life crimes, Yates showcases the slowburn reality like being right there, for better or worse since it's not always exciting, and that's the point...

Just don't let the casting of beautiful poster-perfect British ingenue Joanne Pettet fool you — this particular ROBBERY cares neither about romance or the human condition.

Clinton Greyn, Stanley Baker, William Marlowe &  Barry Foster in ROBBERY

Rachel Herbert in ROBBERY
ROBBERY with William Marlowe
ROBBERY with Terence Plummer
James Booth in ROBBERY
James Booth in ROBBERY
Joanna Pettet in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY with Barry Foster
ROBBERY with William Marlowe
Barry Foster in ROBBERY and George Sewell
James Booth in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY with Frank Finlay
Helicopter from ROBBERY
Blu RAY FOR ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY facing Frank Finley
Rachel Herbert lined-up for ROBBERY
Rachel Herbert in ROBBERY
Rachel Herbert slaps Clinton Greyn in ROBBERY
Joanna Pettet in ROBBERY
Joanna Pettet in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY with Glynn Edwards
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY with Frank Finlay
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY with Barry Stanton
Barry Foster in ROBBERY
Barry Foster in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY with William Marlowe
From Peter Yates' ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY
James Booth in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY with William Marlowe
James Booth in ROBBERY
Joanna Pettet and James Booth in ROBBERY
William Marlowe  in ROBBERY
William Marlowe in ROBBERY
William Marlowe in ROBBERY
From ROBBERY
William Marlowe and Barry Foster in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY
Joanna Pettet Stanley Baker in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker in ROBBERY
Stanley Baker and Barry Foster in ROBBERY
From Peter Yates's ROBBERY

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