The Bank Job

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

2007 British movie, Very Loosely Based on a True Story, namely the 1971 Baker Street Bank Robbery. Set in 1971, it stars Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows and Keeley Hawes, along with half the Hey, It's That Guy! actors in Britain.

Basically, MI5 hire a bunch of criminals to rob a safety deposit vault that contains a bunch of compromising pictures of a senior royal (Princess Margaret in the movie, but possibly not her in real life. You can't libel the dead). Things don't exactly adhere to plan -- there's a porn baron and corrupt coppers involved...

Definitely not one for the kiddies.

Tropes used in The Bank Job include:
  • Angry Black Man: Michael X, though he's actually a sociopath who uses black activism as a cover for his criminal activities.
  • Badass Crew: Subverted. At first it appears as if Terry is assembling one of these, as is typical in heist films, but as it turns out some of them aren't very good at their jobs at all.
  • Black and Grey Morality: Almost every character in this movie is morally ambiguous at best and a Complete Monster at worst - Given and the HAM radio operator are really the only two exceptions.
  • Blackmail: All over the place. Leather uses it to get his friends out of trouble after they get in way over their heads, Tim and Martine were planning it from the beginning, and Vogel gets in on the act after Sophie starts blackmailing him.
  • Biggus Dickus: Dave. Played for laughs at first, but eventually it leads to his demise when Vogel recognizes him as one of his former porn actors.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The major villains - Vogel, Michael X, and the corrupt cops - are arrested and punished for their various crimes. Terry gets to pay off his debts, reconcile his desires for Martine, and keep his family. But half of Terry's crew is killed off, along with the female MI 5 operative who tried to infiltrate Michael X's group.
  • Boxed Crook: Martine, who agrees to set up the bank heist as a way to get out of a drug charge.
  • The Caper: With a dash of political thriller thrown in.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: Complete with a bent copper eating beer nuts as he looks on.
  • Come Alone: A variation. Whenever Terry has to rendezvous with someone, he's careful to set it up in such a way that he has the advantage.
  • Complete Monster: Lew Vogel and his minions both qualify big time.

Vogel: "I wanna tell you something, Mr Shilling, because it'll save time. You see, I have a very jaundiced view of life. From what I see most of it's corrupt, venal and vile. And I'm just saying this so that you'll know that I don't have a better nature to appeal to, or a compassionate streak." Cue sandblaster to the shin.

Vogel: "I think drugs are responsible for the moral decay of this country."

(Speaking on walkie-talkie) "No names, Eddie." "Sorry, Dave."

  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money: Lew Vogel.
  • The Seventies - With a heavy dose of lingering The Sixties mixed in (the movie takes place in 1971).
  • Television Geography: Largely averted. The Lloyds Bank branch is placed in its correct location and is still there today.
  • Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Make that very, very loosely. It's true that there was a robbery at the Baker Street branch of Lloyds in 1971, there was a security hold placed on the story silencing the media, and several of the characters were real people (or at least clear fictionalizations of real people). But a lot of the plot elements (and a few major characters) are just conjecture/invention on the part of the filmmakers.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: Terry Leather is an expert at this.
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