The Great Riviera Bank Robbery

I saw this film on TV under the title SEWERS OF GOLD. It's a British heist movie based on a true story about a gang of fascists who decide to rob a safety deposit vault in Nice by accessing it through the local sewer system. The story had already been adapted as PARADISE but this British version is well worth a watch, riding high in a mini-wave of similar heist pictures that came out around the same time (A NIGHTINGALE SANG IN BERKELEY SQUARE is another good one).

The film was directed by the little-known Francis Megahy who would later re-team with Ian McShane for a few LOVEJOY episodes. McShane is excellent here, by the way, tough, suave, and charismatic as the leader of the robbers. Inevitably most of the running time is involved with the detail of the planning and execution of the robbery and it's a masterpiece of tension, featuring a strong cast (including a youthful Warren Clarke making an impact) and expert direction. The tension never lets up. The finale offers plenty of twists and turns which keep the viewer engaged too. I love films in this sub-genre and SEWERS OF GOLD is another highlight.

Caught this on Talking Pictures under the awful title, Sewers of Gold.

Really surprised how good it was, and how good Ian McShane was (much better than Lovejoy).

The cast is a veritable who's who of 1970s British support actors, quite a few appeared in episodes of The Sweeney.

The film had that feel to it, although from the robbers viewpoint rather than the police.

Based on a real robbery that took place in France, this film really doesn't try to be French at all. It is all rather English, but that doesn't detract from what is a really good thriller.

A real treat from all the murder mysteries we get fed in 2022. A crime without violence and a drama without sex, drugs and never ending profanities.

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This is a nice companion piece to SEWERS OF PARADISE. It was also filmed on location in Nice, France where the actual robbery took place and, naturally, uses many of the same locations as PARADISE. I wonder how the locals liked having two films about the embarrassing robbery shooting at the exact same time? Young looking Ian McShane is the photographer/heist planner this go around. This is just as good as the aforementioned film and might be a little bit better as they delve into the political history of the group a bit more. Interestingly, both films end with a similar shot of the getaway motorcycle driving off into the distance.

This was a glossy television movie shown on ITV as Dirty Money. It was made by its then ATV subsidiary ITC.

Dirty Money has a charismatic turn from Ian McShane. He plays an ex soldier knows as The Brains who teams up with another ex soldier Jean (Warren Clarke) who has fascist sympathies to rob a bank vault in Nice.

Although Jean and The Brains have a right wing agenda to rob the vaults as they intend to buy arms for their struggle. They have to recruit local criminals whose sole interest is money and a greater share of the proceeds.

Based on a true incident; the gang had to several nights spent digging through a wall in a sewer. Hence why the film is also known as Sewers of Gold.

As the film was based in Nice and shot on location. There are lots of glamorous women but also lots of power tools. This is a great movie if you like to see men digging through walls or blow-torching safes.

The political angle is murky. The Brains is a neo fascist but he is keen to stress that no violence was used in the robbery and draws a CND insignia before leaving. His motive for the robbery was to incite an armed revolt by nationalists, something that does not go unnoticed by one of the hired criminals.

It is a straightforward and glossy television movie. You have the planning, too much time with the digging. After the robbery the focus moves to the police who hunt for the robbers and a daring escape. Although your mileage might vary about how much you want to cheer on neo nazis trying to escape from the police.

I've seen this film somewhere in the first ten years of my life (some time ago) and I've never seen it, heard of it or found it in a videostore since. I remember minute preparations of the bankrobbers, the accent lying not so much on action sequences but on the careful planning. The movie probably shaped me cause since then I've always looked for this type of plot in films on bankrobberies. Anywayzzz, indeed an undervalued piece of work. As of today i am going on a quest to retrieve this film. I wanna see it again and again and again...