BEFORE TAKING A 'BULLITT' DIRECTOR PETER YATES SHOT '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 that Yates carried over to the Steve McQueen legendary classic, but also the strategically metronomic moments leading up...

James Booth in ROBBERY

Starring square-jawed Stanley Baker (who specialized in British Noir since the 1950's from BEAUTIFUL STRANGER to HELL DRIVERS to HELL IS A CITY), yet 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...

Stanley Baker 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 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

Clinton Greyn in ROBBERY