The League of Gentlemen

Colonel Hyde was retired from the army against his will. He prepares a plan and sends letters to seven men. All are former officers and all have a mark on their record; gambling, debt, fraud or something else. They gather at a house. Hyde sets out his proposal: a bank will be robbed and the job will be planned like a military operation. Weapons are needed first. They raid an army depot; they put on their uniforms and walk in as though on an exercise. Then the job itself. The plan works. Then a small detail surfaces. Basil Dearden directs. Jack Hawkins plays Hyde, Nigel Patrick plays Race and Roger Livesey plays Mycroft; Richard Attenborough and Bryan Forbes are in the cast. It is a British production, made in 1960. Bryan Forbes wrote the screenplay and acts in the film as well. The source is John Boland's novel. The army gave no support during the production; the ministry did not approve the screenplay and would not supply equipment. The matter it treats is officers left without work after the war; all of them were useful in wartime and can find no place in peace. The narrative builds the robbery like a military exercise and the preparation is its best side. The film is among the known examples of the British heist picture and influenced what followed. The narrative makes the team sympathetic but does not morally absolve them. The ending keeps to the censorship rules of the period and crime is not rewarded. Its limit is age; the narrative is slow, there are many characters, and the ending conventional. Who it is for: viewers who like classic British heist films. Who it is not for: it is old, slow, and the ending where expected.