Post by Eddie Love on Jun 25, 2011 9:23:03 GMT -5
Based on his non-fiction novel of the same name -- THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY-- writer, director (novelist, doctor…) Michael Critchton’s Victorian caper may share the title of one of history’s first films, but it’s a film squarely of it’s time; a costumed variant of the cynical 70s caper.
The film (and novel) flesh out the ostensibly true story of the daring, impossible heist of gold bars from a moving train, a feat that could only be completed once copies of the four disparately held keys to open the safes holding the gold could somehow be secured. The mastermind behind the bold venture is a shadowy, seemingly upper crust gentleman played by Sean Connery who leads a small team adept at disguises and the general criminality of the era.
The production here is a lavish one, even if it doesn’t convey much in the way of atmosphere. However, as in his novel, Critchton lays on detail that extends to more than just the costumes and settings. He portrays the real character of the time, and his take on this bygone era is pretty novel. While some might be attracted to a kind of Masterpiece Theater style coziness, Critchton’s outlook is far more jaundiced. Connery plotting with his cohorts is juxtaposed with scenes that speak to the general hypocrisy of the times. There are stuffy gentlemen’s clubs rife with classist, sexist attitudes. The respectable bankers and men of property participate in a barbaric practice of “ratting” – a sport where they bet on their beloved dogs as they’re overtaken by ravenous rats in an enclosed pen. Daughters are essentially pimped out by prosperous families in an effort to get them married off, and taking the family to see a public execution is considered a day’s entertainment. The people may appear genteel, but Crichton digs within to show their unseemly, forgotten practices.
Connery moves effortlessly among these worlds, and we see the cold-blooded avarice that motivates him. He really is a rotter, there’s nothing especially likable about the character and he’s given no arguments or back-story that temper this blaggard. Many stars would have insisted on some wink to the audience that ensured us they really aren’t a shitheel deep at heart, but Connery isn’t one of them; he clearly enjoys this unsentimental take on this magnetic, but by no means lovable, rogue
Indeed, towards the end the bank robber violently ties up some loose ends, and it’s a short, brutal sequence, that people may want to instantly put out of their mind and get back to the fun, but it’s a nasty kicker from Critchton to the audience that says; hey, this ain’t THE LAVENDER HILL MOB, these guys are gangsters. (If this were THE STING, Connery’s more Robert Shaw than Redford and Newman)
He gets an assist from Donald Sutherland as a bewhiskered safecracker and pickpocket and the film’s comic relief. He works hard and serves up the bluster to Sean’s unflappable cool. The female star is that perfect visaged English rose of the 70s Lesley-Anne Down and she has a number of cutting, counter-romantic “love scenes” with Sean that play expertly. She also does some comic accent work and looks sensational throughout.
Critchton isn’t the world’s most daring cinematic stylist and when he succeeds in drawing you into the action it’s more as a result of his detailed procedural presentation of the material. For instance, there’s a daring, high-flying escape from London’s notorious Newgate prison that's a nail-biter, not so much due to any visceral cinematic involvement, but more in keeping with the director’s model of showing what these guys had to do to pull off their crimes. Sutherland has a similar episode that’ll tax the edge of your seat as he secures impressions of two of the keys needed to open the train’s safes with only seconds to spare.
But most impressive is the train robbery itself. It had me gasping and jumping out of my seat more than a couple times. This is a true testament to the filmmakers as we’re never really that invested in the characters themselves, particularly given Connery’s icy take on the lead. But when we watch him crawling across the top of the speeding train passing from car to car, his movements obscured by the smoke that billows across him, you easily get pulled into to the action. Add to this the low hanging tunnels that come barreling at Connery and that he has to duck to avoid and it’s a wonderfully compelling sequence. There’s no rear projection, very little editing, and it’s clearly all Sean, if there is ever a double used their employment is sparing and completely seamless. It’s truly a terrific sequence, not one of cinematic mastery so much as watching a guy (and an actor) really doing what it took to pull this off.
The picture’s tone is arch and adult throughout. This may be a period piece, but the times, Critchton suggests, were just as jaded and hypocritical as our own and merit the same degree of cynicism as those of post-Watergate America. That's why the somewhat madcap ending feels a little tacked on. For the most part, though, this is an biting and amusing, even thrilling, ride.