skanners

'Dirty Money' is one of the greatest heist films of all time and also probably one of the least known.

Starring a much younger Ian McShane before his 'Deadwood' days ably assisted by Warren Clarke, Christopher Malcolm and Stephen Grief this film details the events which took place in France in 1976.

Following description taken from video release from 1981

'Strongly committed to the ideals of a French right wing alliance with links in high places all over the world, Bert (IAN MCSHANE) conceives of a brilliant plan to obtain finances to buy arms in the cause of an eventual political take-over.

The scene is Nice, playground of the rich and indolent. Over a long weekend the vault of a particular bank will be stuffed with francs. And Bert knows a way in.....through a labyrinthine sewer system, a map of which he has obtained from a contact in the town hall.

With colleagues from former fighting days in Indo-China and Algeria, Jean (WARREN CLARKE) and Serge (CHRISTOPHER MALCOLM), Bert reluctantly has to recruit a band of professional criminals to assist in the robbery. The dangerous elements of crime and passionate politics make for uneasy bedfellows..........The criminals look on the job as merely a passport to money and the good life; they cannot understand Bert's ideological approach summed up as 'without arms....without hatred.....without violence'.

As the job is planned with meticulous and flawless detail, the personality clashes between the two factions become more and more defined.

But the heist goes perfectly and Bert finds more money than he ever dreamed of. There's fifteen million dollars: the biggest bank job in the world.

Though the police are completely baffled at first, the criminal members of the robbery team are soon throwing their money around with reckless abandon. As they are caught one by one, Bert manages to avoid capture but in the end he, too, is cornered.

Even so, he might still be able to offer the police a deal'.

This film is still unavailable on VHS or DVD so you will have to hunt down one of the UK releases on Precision video from 1981 like I did ( It only took me 3 years to find one) - I do not know if there was a VHS release in the US or anywhere else!!!Happy Hunting It'll be worth it

Yet another of the films that languishes in the hell that is 'Banned by the BBFC'. My only question being 'did you watch a different film to me?' I cannot even begin to think why this was considered banworthy (is that a word?) unless it was 'cos they didn't want to subject us to this!!! This is definitely another one of those 'So Bad they're good' contenders that I love so much I also think that an average mark of 2.2 out of 10 seems a bit harsh for this film I would give it at least a 3!!

Basically this film consists of a 'Crazy Man' running around in the most densely populated 'middle of nowhere' that I have ever seen and killing people with a large Machete on a stick

It really is that SIMPLE

This film was banned during the witch hunt of the early 80's, my only question is why??? The only redeeming feature of this pile of steaming dung are the eponymous murders which aren't that bad considering that the budget for the whole film must have been approaching the $12 mark. All 3 murders shown are filmed and scripted exactly the same. The acting is woeful and the sound, editing and directing are nothing short of abysmal. Having said that though there does seem to be a strange attraction about this film but I'm afraid that this attraction is only of the 'Sooooooo Bad its good' variety!! If you want to watch a film that stirs the intellect leave well alone, if you want to see an example of how not to do it then this is the film for you. 1/2* out of *****