The Brink's Job

On 17 January 1950 around $2.7 million was taken from a Brink's armoured car depot in Boston's North End. The film tells that story, and it is an unusual entry in William Friedkin's filmography because it is a comedy. The production took information from surviving members of the gang, offering five thousand dollars each plus a share of the profits for their contribution. The strangest story comes from the shoot itself. On 28 July 1978, a week before principal photography was to finish, three armed men talked their way into the production's editing rooms, held the staff at gunpoint and took the film prints. They first demanded $600,000 in ransom, then lowered it to $500,000. But what they had taken were duplicates struck from the original negative, and therefore worthless. The robbery itself has its own place in American history: catching the culprits cost taxpayers $29 million, and only $58,000 of the money was ever recovered. Peter Falk, Peter Boyle and Warren Oates star. A pleasant choice for anyone who likes heist films and period comedy. For a viewer expecting a thriller on the order of Sorcerer, the register is completely different.