The Great Train Robbery

The First Great Train Robbery is a first rate, seldom seen, crime thriller with Sean Connery, Lesley Ann Downes (who impresses in corsets) and Donald Sutherland who execute an audacious train heist...in England 1855 (with a little help from Wayne Sleep). Written with forensic prescison by Micheal Crichton, it staggers me that Sean Connery could have been considered box office poison with a project of this calibre.

Makes Buster look turgid - heartily recommended.

This one is fun to watch as the thieves work an intricate plan to rob a train.

The performances are terrific, but the director and the late great Geoffrey Unsworth's delightful photography bring the Victorian Era back to life. The detail is wonderful in all the sets and surroundings.

The plot is very simple, the film is focused and I found myself rooting for the thieves!

Attractive picture written and directed by Michael Crichton who based his book and movie only loosely on the actual crime committed in 1855 about stealing shipment of gold from a moving train and destined to the Crimea for British soldiers who are there fighting the Russians . In Victorian England , a brilliant trio of crooks conspire to pull off a spectacular heist ; they are formed by an elegant master criminal called Edward Pierce (boastful Sean Connery spent several days running on top of a moving train) and his accomplices , a pickpocket cracksman called Agar (Donald Sutherland) and a beautiful mistress named Miriam (Lesley-Anne Down) make a elaborate plan to steal a shipment of gold from a moving train . But the gold is stored in two locked safes that requires four separate keys to be opened . Never have so few taken so much from so many .

Based on a true incident , this intrigue-filled caper has been packed with suspense , thrills , action , stylish fun and hooks to keep interested . The film was entitled "The First Great Train Robbery" to distance it from a £2 million robbery from a mail train in 1963 which was known in the British press as "The Great Train Robbery" . The movie faithfully reflects some events of the Victorian era such as large differences of classes , public executions applauded by the assistants , carriage parades and many other things . Sensational trio protagonist who can steal your heart , as Sean Connery as a dashing mastermind , Donald Sutherland as a skill cracksman , and a gorgeous Lesly-Anne Down . Agreeable support cast such as Robert Lang , Michael Elphick , Alan Webb and Wayne Sleep ,one of Britain's premier ballet dancers, from The Royal Ballet Company , he actually did his own stunts, including scaling the Newgate prison walls, at the tremendous risk of falling and hurting himself . And it was the final film for both André Morell and Peter Butterworth, both of whom had died by the time that it was released . Thrilling and intriguing musical score by the great Jerry Goldsmith , director Michael Crichton frequently hired Jerry Goldsmith to compose the scores for his films . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth , in fact , the picture is dedicated to his memory ; being marvelously photographed against gorgeous Irish countryside . The motion picture was well directed by Michael Crichton . After giving up medicine, Michael moved to Hollywood, California, in the early 1970s and began directing movies based on his books, his first big break being ¨Westworld¨ (1973) and subsequently wrote and directed other successes as ¨Coma¨, ¨Runaway¨ and ¨13º warrior¨ until his early death by cancer at 66 years old .

The very least you can say about Michael Crichton (1942-2008) is that he was an extremely intelligent, versatile and busy worker! He studied journalism, anthropology and medicine, to eventually become Sci-Fi/thriller novelist, screenwriter and director. His studies and interests certainly explain the themes and range for most of his novels and screenplays, but there are still several odd and rather unlikely achievements in his repertoire. "The Great Train Robbery" is probably the oddest of the bunch. After grim and scholarly Sci-Fi stories like "The Andromeda Strain", "Westworld", "The Terminal Man" and "Coma", I don't think anybody expected Crichton to come up with a light-headed Victorian period piece about the infamous 1855 train heist.

Sean Connery's character has decided for himself that he will pull off what no other thief has even properly attempted to do, namely steal a large amount of government gold from a massively secured safe on a moving train. He receives help from the lewd Lesley-Ann Down, who merely just uses her feminine charms and bodily trumps, and the self-acclaimed fastest key runner in the country; Donald Sutherland. Together they must figure out how to unnoticedly get hold of four separately secured keys to the safe, and then still find a solution to break into the guarded bank wagon and get out the loot. "The Great Train Robbery" reminded me very much of "Ocean's 11". I haven't seen the 1960 original, starring Frank Sinatra, but it isn't unthinkable that Steven Soderbergh also took some ideas from this film whilst he was preparing the 2001 remake. Connery's witty charms and small talks to infiltrate into high-society families, the grotesquely detailed schemes to plagiarize the keys, the acrobatic con-artist, the meticulously timed simulations, ... These are all scenes that could come straight out of "Ocean's 11".

"The Great Train Robbery" is a well-made, nicely acted and overall reasonably entertaining period film. It does have several defaults, though, notably that Crichton cannot seem to decide whether he wants his film to be a comical crime caper or a suspenseful heist movie. Certain parts are particularly bleak (like the dog-fighting, the execution, etc...) but mostly it's tongue-in-cheek, so the film kind falls in between genres. The Robin Hood styled ending also feels very forced. The Victorian costumes and decors look great, Jerry Goldsmith's score is exhilarating and both Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland put down pleasant performances, all of which still makes "The Great Train Robbery" recommended viewing!

The year is 1855. The place is England. A man going by the name of Edward Pierce (Sean Connery) has his eyes on a near impossible heist. He wants to steal the Crimean gold that goes by railway from one part of England to another. Besides the fact it's guarded at the time of transit, the safe requires four separate keys that are in three separate locations. Oh yeah, and no one has ever robbed a moving locomotive before. I suppose he could Butch-Cassidy-and-the-Sundance-Kid it and force the train to stop, then blow open the safe. But this is England and no such brutish tactics will be used. This will take stealth, guile, and intelligence. In other words, it was a sophisticated operation.

This was a superb heist movie. It was clever, it was cohesive, and it was funny. I liked the pairing of Connery and Donald Sutherland. Heist movies always have to be clever and cutting edge because the mark is always super-secure and nearly impossible to breach. What sets one heist movie apart from the other is the story within and the characters. This story was straight forward and simple. There were no red herrings, no sappy side stories, and no deux ex-machinas. And the characters were very enjoyable.

This Michael Crichton film was simply excellent.