Too many crooks... Payroll (1961)

There was something in the air in the early 60s… not just the great train robbery but the emergence of a new breed of glamorous British gangs some of whom are still being lionised with some cosy cliches which reflected their appeal. “Hard but fair”, “they only killed their own…”, “you was either a boxer or a gangster…” or, as my former colleague, niece to certain East-end twins used to say her gran threaten “if you don’t behave I’ll set your uncles on you!” There is no doubt that criminality is part of the British way of life and we are fascinated with everyone who gets away.

Directed with forensic almost documentary detail by Sydney Hayers, Payroll was released two years before the big job on the railways and proved that life always imitates art even as that of artful dodgers. Organised crime was a burgeoning sub-genre with other capers such as Cash on Demand (1961), The Frightened City (1961) and Strongroom (1962), which has been attracting some serious attention after its restoration was screened at the BFI and then Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna. It seem that Brit Noir/Neo-Noir is due a reappraisal maybe even The Big Job (1965) a comedy reflecting the nation’s continuing interest in these post-war self-improvement schemes.

Here we start off with what looks like an attempted robbery but is just a demonstration of a supposedly impenetrable security van which even comes with a loud hailer called for assistance. Naturally the firm behind the new vehicle are convinced of its efficacy and the driver, Harry Parker (William Peacock) sees advancement in the big new contract to deliver payroll money, telling his wife Jackie (Billie Whitelaw) over breakfast that it’s impregnable.

The film is very good in showing the depth of all the characters and that’s what adds to the noirish feel when betrayal, paranoia and in-fighting kick in.

There’s a gang monitoring the payroll deliveries and led by Johnny Mellors played rather convincingly against type by Michael Craig who constantly rubs up against the edgy scouser Blackie (Tom Bell, on fine form speaking his native dialect!). Bert Langridge (Barry Keegan) is their technician and more level-headed whilst Monty (a febrile, greasy Kenneth Griffith… nerves on a stick!) worries about everything and everyone.

The gang have a man on the inside, Dennis Pearson played with anxious exhaustion by Barry Keegan, and he passes them photocopies of the van’s design helping them devise a way to counter its armour. Improbably he’s married to a beautiful wife, Katie (Françoise Prévost) who’s just about had enough of his promises of a better life… we’re left to fill in the gaps of their relationship.

The heist takes place and, whilst Harry may have felt impervious, the gang sandwich the van between two trucks with girders strapped to them and repeatedly ram the vehicle killing him outright. It’s an audacious and unsettling moment and Bert too is badly injured as the robbers gain access to the interior and then dozens of people run from a nearby factory to try and help with one man clinging to the back of the getaway car… everyday bravery that you could say reflected the more conscientious and dutifully aligned post-war Britain.

Now the film takes a turn as getting what you want isn’t necessarily as good as the boys imagined especially with the collateral damage… this extends to one of their own as they discover when they reach their hide-away in the depths of Victorian Newcastle as Bert is unable to follow on due to the extent of his injuries. Johnny knows there’s only one option, Blackie is less sure and Monty’s about to lose his head whilst all around just about keep theirs. Bert dies before Johnny has to finish him and the gang disperse… now’s the time to wait it out.

But as the police become involved and the tragedy is revealed, Katie senses a kindred spirit in Johnny whilst a distraught Jackie shows she has more grit than any of the robbers. She senses a betrayal at the security firm – how did the gang get to know the van’s weaknesses, someone had to have told them. The rest of the film plays out a tense psychological thriller as the pressure builds on the guilty and the innocent.

Dusty Verdict: Payroll is a mostly fast moving and enjoyable ride which hits harder than its budget might have allowed thanks to some fine performances. Billie Whitelaw catches the eye most in her shift from dutiful housewife to determined pursuer of her husband’s killer and the police procedural is well observed and believable. In comparison Françoise Prévost is a bit of a closed book, we’re not sure of her motivations either towards her feckless husband or Johnny… but her acting is giving far less of a clue than Whitelaw’s.

One of the film’s delights is its Newcastle locations – it’s always fascinating seeing the backgrounds in period films, but it’s usually London so it’s grand to see the sights of one of the finest cities of the north, the bridges over the Tyne, the grimy Victorian riverside in the winding soot-stained bricks below.

 

 

 

 

A bar snack served cold... Revenge! (1971)

Unlike many films of this era and genre, Revenge! Is actually a thriller… adult-paced and unsettling throughout with some visceral performances I’d say it’s one of the better films of this period when British cinema, freed by permissive influence, got violent and increasingly sexy. Of course there’s some of the latter here, no least in Joan Collins just being encouraged to be Joan Collins, a Rank Starlet in her late teens, bound for Hollywood in her twenties and finally, in her middle years finding her mark as the Queen of British crime films and then, after The Bitch and others, the true star of Dynasty, her limited acting ability more than offset by her humour and frank sexuality.

Possibly influenced by my parents, I’ve never been a huge fan, having watched her struggle alongside Gregory Peck in one US film, The Bravados (1958), yet in early British crime like Cosh Boy she excelled and she was just as funny as the boys with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis in The Persuaders and now I look forward to seeing her in just this kind of oddity more and more.

This is another film produced by Carry on’s Peter Rogers with music from Carry on’s Eric Rogers (see earlier post: no relation) and directed by Sidney Hayers who also worked with the duo on Assault (1971) – they were big on one name titles although this one ended up going by many names, including Inn of the Frightened People which, whilst more descriptive, doesn’t really catch the raw energy of this surprisingly impactful film, one of three missteps aside.

Joan Collins

In an all too believable and possibly near future scenario, James Booth and Joan Collins play a couple running a nice village pub, Jim and Carol Radford. They are mourning the death of their young daughter, Jenny, who was sexually assaulted and killed by a man called Seely (Kenneth Griffith, who is excellent here, a mess of sickly, nervy humanity, terrified and unsettling… inscrutably scared) … or, at least everyone assumes so.

Seely is released after questioning and whilst Jim and Carol are convinced it was him so too is the father of another young girl who was killed, Harry (Ray Barrett) who encourages Jim to take the law into their hands and finish off what the police have seemingly failed to do.

Jim also has two other children by his first marriage, an older son Lee (Tom Marshall, voiced by Nicky Henson) and Jill (Zuleika Robson dubbed, by Michele Dotrice). Lee is in general agreement with his father whilst being on rather touchy-feely terms with his stepmother, in spite of his girlfriend Rose (Sinéad Cusack). For her part Jill hates Carol and any attempt to replace her mother, the fact that her lines were voiced by Michele Dotrice shows the filmmakers’ lack of faith in her expression, that Henson voices for Lee and even the experienced Ray Barrett is dubbed by Garfield Morgan, is odd, adding an extra layer of “distance” to their roles…

Ray Barrett with James Booth

Ultimately, it’s James Booth who has to carry the film and he has plenty in his armoury, a mercurial edgy presence at his best and here largely believable as a man bent on revenging his daughter at any cost. He and Harry follow Seely and see him watching a primary school before deciding to bundle him into the back of a car and tie him up in the cellar of the Radford’s pub. The initial scenes are unsettling, especially when Carol realises who he is and tries to avenge her daughter herself. There’s so much certainty and anger it’s almost like the experience of social media in 2023…

They beat Seely so severely they think they’ve killed him and their minds race as they try to decide what to do, surely it’s their word against his reputation, they can act with impunity, even the police would want this… the ideas are thrown around thick and fast, even when Seely recovers to be now just a prisoner in their basement whilst pub life continues as normal up above.

At this point he becomes something on their conscience, a violent act of their own for them to try and rationalise. Harry starts to distance himself literally, by heading off to a business meeting in Manchester, whilst Jill is appalled and wants them to call the police. Lee and Carol meanwhile are drawn together by the brutality of their actions… as if the rogue alpha male, Jim, is being supplanted.

Tight camera angles abound as Sidney Hayers creates a claustrophibic intensity

Then news comes that another man is being investigated for the murder and the fractured gang of kidnappers starts to fall apart leaving Jim with the rather battered baby and a difficult negotiation to make in terms of returning him to the wild…

Dusty Verdict: There are some daft developments but overall, this film does keep you guessing and that’s chiefly due to deft work from Booth, Collins and Griffith but also from a script that asks some difficult questions and also focuses on telling the story of Jim’s mid-life disappointment. He’s already lost his daughter and now, in his moment of revenge, he’s gradually having everything else that counts in his life stripped away. I didn’t see a lot of this coming and the moral dilemma is inventive and excruciating.

Well worth a watch and of course Joan’s on good form, it’s not a glamourous role but it is one that calls for a glamourous actor. She's adds the heat for a film that proves that revenge is indeed a dish best served cold, possibly involving a sausage roll with some pickled eggs... seventies hospitality.

Records for sale include Abbey Road, Moody Blues, Chicago plus the samplers Total Sound and Impact, both still in my family's record collection.

Don’t go down to the woods today… Assault (1971), Network Blu-ray

 

Now, here’s a thing, I had no idea that the composer Eric Rogers was no relation to Peter Rogers despite their working together dozens of times mostly on Carry on films, all but two had Eric’s scoring. Born in Halifax, Eric’s real name was Eric Gaukroger although he later hyphenated his surname to Gauk-Roger. As with Peter though, Eric diversified and this thriller was one of a number of a number of more “adult” crime thrillers they worked on including Vengeance (1971) and the excellent All Coppers Are (1972), also available on Network Blu-ray and also directed by Sidney Hayers.

I've started off with the Rogers as I’m always slightly surprised to find them away from comedy and especially Eric as clearly, he’s more evident in the films than the Producer. His score here very effectively contributes to the brooding menace and the sense of threat that powers the narrative. In terms of visual subtlety, Hayers is more efficient than inventive but it still works as an unsettling watch albeit one reliant on the male gaze and sexualised threat to femininity. Is it exploitation, probably but it’s well acted and sincere entertainment of its time…

We start off at a posh all-girls school as an array of period cars arrives to collect the slightly mature looking young women. If you like classic British motors, then you will not be disappointed with the films deployment of Morris, Triumph and Jaguar cars; art-teacher Julie West (the divine Suzy Kendall) drives a Morris Minor estate, Det. Chief Supt. Velyan (Frank Finlay) has a Morse-type Jaguar and Freddie Jones’ nasty reporter has a sporty model I’m yet to identify, possibly and MGA Coupe? That plus all of the Morris Minor Panda cars…

Shouldn't you be studying for your A-levels Lesley-Anne?

But the real story starts with one of the girls, Tessa Hurst (a 17-year old Lesley-Anne Down in her first starring role) taking a short-cut home through the woods which leads to her being viciously assaulted under the shadow of an electric power station, it’s unsettling to watch, a bit too voyeuristic for me, but thankfully not overplayed. The result leaves Tessa catatonic with shock and unable to talk as she’s taken in to care at a mental hospital by Doctor Greg Lomax (James Laurenson) who along with specialist Mr. Bartell (Anthony Ainley, famously The Master in Doctor Who after Roger Delgado).

The police launch an investigation under the command of Chief Super Velyan and Det. Sgt. Beale (James Cosmo, evergreen as he is and still performing!) and from this point on we will be introduced to a series of characters who are all a bit suspicious to some extent, the game of cat and red herring is afoot!

Obviously, it’s not going to be the lovely Julie who is as down with the kids as anyone in this rather odd school. Headmistress Mrs. Sanford (Dilys Hamlett) is so strait-laced it’s rather unlikely that she’s married to Tony Beckley’s creepy Leslie Sanford but that’s the point. Whilst she looks after the girls’ spiritual well-being he keeps an unblinking eye on their more earthy qualities, greedily eying them up in the playground or touching them up in the library (Janet Lynn, definitely over 18 and who played Carol Thatcher – no, not that one - with Robin Askwith in Cool it Carol! the year before).

Under suspicion: Tony Beckley, James Cosmo and Frank Dinlay

Then the situation gets even worse as another girl, Susan Miller (Anabel Littledale, aged 19) ignoring instructions and common sense, takes the same short-cut and this time the crime escalates to murder, with accompanying fleshy details. Julie, driving four other girls home, spots the missing pupil and drives her Morris into the woods, only to arrive just too late as she glimpses the killer, face lit by her red break lights in a demonic glow…

She cannot escape the image she saw nor explain it to the police and is all but laughed from the inquest when she describes her vision. Luckily for her Doctor Greg is on hand to support the very beautiful young woman in her hour of need, he has ulterior motive alright but is there anything more…? Certainly, of ill-intent is reporter Freddie Jones, playing a blinder as the grubby tabloid hack pushing for an angle and any salacious detail right to the point of pestering Julie at home.

The police assign Sgt. Milton (Patrick Jordan) to protect Julie as she paints the image she remembers and, in collusion with the reporter, puts a story in the papers that she can draw the face of the killer she recalls… it’s a very high-risk strategy and one we know will bring her into danger. But who will it be, one of the good guys or one of the obviously bad ones?

James Laurenson and Suzy Kendall

Dusty Verdict: Assault is an entertaining thriller that gets the job done with the aid of some very good performances especially from Frank Findley, who’s always so nuanced he could be one of the suspects… maybe he is, and Suzy Kendall who made a career out of playing female febrility, a Derbyshire Julie Christie!

The set pieces are well executed and the villain is a genuine mystery for long enough… And, apart from the classy, classic cars, there’s some fab cameos including Mr David Essex as the leather-jacketed Man in Chemist Shop looking for help for his girlfriend’s nosebleed. It’s definitely not him…

You can order the Blu-ray direct from Network and at a great price, there’s so much on their website, you’ll probably come away with more than you budgeted for!

 

 

 

Freddie

 

 

The Headmistress' Husband is unsuitable for educational work...

David Essex!

 

The car section...
 

Classic cars...

Really Sidney? Cars and short skirts...

Morris Minor Estate with wooden trim: classic!

Jaguar

Morris Pandas

Is that an MGA Coupe?