The First Great Train Robbery (1979)

A Disappointing Continuation

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Connery shines as the anti establishment mastermind, plotting to relieve the British Empire of the pay for its troops in the Crimea. Yes, the action does take a little time to get going - much to my train mad son, who was hoping for more steaming activity - but the build up to the actual robbery makes for an entertaining period piece. The actual robbery is enjoyable to watch, with the open top engine puffing through the country side, comparable to so many modern train escapades. It's fun watching with a modern perspective to see how the landscape has changed. It's watchable with your parents or grand parents, and has parts that even younger kids will enjoy.

Geoffrey Unsworth's sterling cinematography and Sean Connery's startling stuntwork are the only two worthwhile takeaways from this dodgy period piece that can't decide whether to be a caper comedy a la "The Sting" or a serious suspense yarn.Edward Pierce (Connery) is an ostensibly respectable member of 1855 London society who harbors a crooked secret: He likes to steal. When he targets a shipment of gold en route via train to the British Army in the Crimea, he goes all out, enlisting the support of ace safecracker Robert Agar (Donald Sutherland) to boldly go where no crook has gone before.Well, it's an interesting set-up, anyway. But writer-director Michael Crichton doesn't do much with it, except set up Connery for his big stunt. We see Connery, very clearly without benefit of stuntman, climb upon a moving train and duck under a series of stone bridges that could have easily decapitated him, his only safety measure apparently being the two giant brass counterweights he had nestled in his pants.It's unforgettable viewing, yet it doesn't add a thing to the story. We know Pierce is going to make it, or the movie would have a different title. So this death-defying stunt actually manages to become somewhat tedious, even with Unsworth's sterling lenswork playing the hulking Connery against a whooshing rural countryside. This is Unsworth's last film, and boasts his signature sheen. No one captured the outdoors quite like him.Before they break into the safe, Pierce and Agar first need to get four keys, requiring three different break-ins. Again, any suspense here is of the title-restricted variety. Some attempts at comedy are introduced, but don't get much farther than entendres of the double- and single- variety. Sutherland's Irish accent wouldn't survive a Lucky Charms casting call, while third-billed Lesley-Anne Down flashes her big blues and giggles. Beautiful she is, subtle she ain't.A big problem for me was why to root for Pierce and his crew. Most of the film seems bent on making us like them, yet they commit some heinous acts to get what they're after. Speaking of heinous, why does Crichton subject us to a real scene of a terrier killing rats? It's not like we need it storywise. I guess it's there because Crichton thought it was properly authentic.You do get authentic details in this movie, like criminal argot (a "betty" or "twirl" is a key, a "crusher" is a cop, a "tightener" is a drink), a public hanging, and a doss house. There's also something called a "Bateson's belfry" which Crichton apparently made up, though at least that works for the story. Crichton was a meticulous researcher who enjoyed ideas, but "Robbery" lacks the energy of his more future- oriented yarn-spinning. He's working with a real story this time, and seems uncharacteristically hemmed in by it.Watching Connery is always worth something, but after that train scene I can't help but feel this was nearly at too high a cost. Even though he lived to make other movies, it still wasn't worth it.

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 .

Writing and directing The Great Train Robbery, Michael Crichton took much license with the facts of the story's basis, mostly to incorporate a tone of sardonic humor and mean-spirited mustachioed grinning. Sir Sean Connery has always been a great light comedian, having played Bond as a discreetly comic character. That's probably why Lazenby and Moore never totally matched him: They played 007 too orthodox. In Connery's charismatic oeuvre, master safecracker Edward Pierce is no exception.The inimitable Donald Sutherland, playing a Victorian pickpocket and con man, is somewhat miscast as Connery's partner. He is not convincingly English, to my surprise frankly, though he does bring a new characteristic or two to virtually each film he's in, and here he's not just Connery's cohort but his foil. Leslie Ann Down plays Connery's moll and co-conspirator, and she appears to have been preordained to wear Victorian undergarments.The plot for the heist is rather upfront: The train's safe, containing the gold, is protected with four keys, each in different hands. The challenge is to divide these holders from their keys, if possible in scenarios that serious, by-the-book Victorian gentlemen would be opposed to explaining to the police, so one aged banker is shadowed at a dogfight and another is intercepted in a brothel. There's also a Stopwatch Sequence for caper enthusiasts like me: Connery and Sutherland undergo numerous trials before endeavoring to burglarize the railway company office, and we get a gracefully stage-managed robbery effort with all the timeless taps like the guard reappearing a nanosecond after the critical moment and such.One of the foremost amusements of this drum-tight caper is the way it's determinedly in the Victorian era. The costumes and the art direction are sincere, Crichton infuses his dialogue with undoubtedly genuine Victorian gangland wording, and, for the climactic train heist, they even constructed a whole operational train. Other gratifications: The nefarious deception used to smuggle Connery into the protected car with the gold; the chase sequence atop the train; and, certainly, the loin-scorchingly superb presence of Down, who is wryly funny in her own right.An ornately thorough and exciting caper that parades historical accuracy in support of the tempting charisma of gentleman scoundrels up to no good. Connery and Sutherland are unscrupulous to their foundations but full of audacity and shrewdness. We're supportive of them all the way, with their dashing top hats, rustling coat-tails and panorama of facial hair.There's a patent two-act structure to the proficient script. Crichton has a scientist's sensitivity to exactitude. First the crack team toil through the preparation phases, as they progressively appropriate indentations of the four keys necessary to unlock the safe, resulting in the heist itself on a train tearing through the British scenery. In the course of this era of steam power, it appeared a hopeless scheme. Meek, perhaps, by the wicked tempo of modern action sequences, Crichton nevertheless infuses a rousing realism with Connery mannishly performing his own stunts as he traverses the rooftop through clouds of grimy smoke, for the golden fleece.All around, Crichton absorbs the tissue and texture of whimsical Victoriana from the bitter brick walls of the prison for Wayne Sleep's lithe prison escape to the plush, glossy furnishings of the brothel where the sexy Down slips a key from Alan Webb's frenziedly horny bank manager. But naturalism is not the approach, Crichton is after a giddy attribute like it's being told as a tall story in a pub sopping in overstatement and heightened deceit to whitewash impractical snags.