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Post by Dirty Epic on Apr 15, 2015 8:36:41 GMT
Thought I create a thread for this great film loosely based on the Great Train Robbery.. Lot's of faces from the likes of The Sweeney/Minder/Pro's/Auf Pet too and Stanley Baker plays Paul Clifton very very well as a man you don't know of how far he'll go to achieve his objectives. The ending with Clifton in New York leaves the viewer guessing how he fairs 'on the run' and if Baker hadn't tragically died relatively young I'm sure he'd had done well in some similar roles too. Wouldn't mind doing some of the locations but unfortunately much of Kings Cross/St Pancras which features in the film is changing beyond recognition now. Overall fully recommend it and Robbery begins the strands so successfully pursued in British film/crime drama during the 1970's/80's.
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Post by Gene Hunt on Apr 15, 2015 9:42:54 GMT
Excellent film dirtyepic and well worthy of its own thread. I've done the train blag location with a mate a couple of years ago. It's hardly changed at all. Gene.
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Post by Dirty Epic on Apr 15, 2015 11:01:01 GMT
Thanks for the heads up on Kings Cross Gene. I'll have to have a pop around there as most of what I've seen near the station has changed quite a lot recently and I'm sure I've seen stuff in the Evening Standard about the developments there recently. Mind you most of the West London and Roehampton locations are still very similar so if the weather's nice like this may do a little wander round there. May also have a cheeky along the way too! Probably stretching it a bit thin but I also see some scope for a sequel featuring Paul (Stanley Baker) on the run maybe in the States, Aus or South America. Again very similar to what the real life Ronnie Biggs did and generally many of the details of Robbery were freakily accurate to the real Great Train Robbery which only gradually became more known from the 1980's onwards.
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Post by Gene Hunt on Apr 15, 2015 11:05:11 GMT
Sorry mate, when I said train blag location, I meant where they robbed the train. The bridge is still the same now but the tracks have long gone.
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Villain
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Nine Elms, 1970, looking for the loot...
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Post by Villain on Apr 15, 2015 14:55:58 GMT
Good idea for a thread Dirtyepic, I was wondering when this classic British crime caper would get a look in! Alas niether Kings Cross nor St.Pancras were used in the film though, the short scenes filmed at a London terminus where the mail train departs were shot at Marylebone in March 1967. The blag location mentioned above by Gene is only a twenty minute drive from where I live, it's in Theddingworth on the now long gone Rugby to Markey Harborough line. The line was closed by British Railways in June '66 but the infrastructure was left largely intact and this is what enabled Stanley Baker's Oakhurst Productions to get the railway sequences looking as realistic as possible. The bridge itself is still exactly as it was in March and April '67 when the blag scenes were shot, in some close up shots of Stanley Baker and Barry Foster you can see the damaged brickwork, it is exactly the same today. The embankment and bridge is used by a local farmer to gain access to some other land. When Gene and I visited the location we took several photos, I'll dig mine out later and post them, in the meantime here are a few screen grabs (I have hundreds more which I'll sort out later too)... I have a bit of a personal connection to the film (and the real robbery on which it is based) as I used to work with one of the train crew involved in the filming, and a colleague of mine is very good mates with one of the two Drivers they used. I'll go into more detail later once I've sorted some more screen grabs out. Edit : apologies due - the area around Summertown Goods Depot at St.Pancras does feature in the film, during the opening chase sequence between the villain's grey Mk2 Jag and the rozzer's black S-Type!
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The Saint
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Swinging London - 1967
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Post by The Saint on Apr 16, 2015 19:04:59 GMT
Great stuff, thanks for posting Villain!
The Saint
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Post by Charles Bronson on Apr 16, 2015 19:18:19 GMT
Great film, I've got a copy in a DVD folder somewhere. I'll have to dig it out and watch it again. I was reading up on Stanley Baker last week, as I recall he was only in his late 40's when he died, which is incredibly young really. It said in the piece I read, that he had a few mates, who were real hard men, which must have helped him get his performances right for certain parts. One of my favourite British film actors.
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Post by Sam Tyler on Apr 16, 2015 21:31:58 GMT
It certainly is a good film and I'm surprised to hear Villain, that you knew one of the train crew from the filming. It must have been an interesting time for him?
I've not been to these locations, can anyone post up a Google Maps image of the bridge? I'd be interested to know some more about the locations.
Sam.
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Post by Gene Hunt on Apr 16, 2015 22:16:50 GMT
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Post by Sam Tyler on Apr 16, 2015 22:22:20 GMT
Thanks for the link Gene
Plenty of undergrowth on the bridge now I see, plus a splattered fly on the Streetview camera lens on the southbound shots.
Sam.
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