The First Great Train Robbery (1979)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Michael Crichton

Writers:

Michael Crichton (screenplay)
Michael Crichton (novel)

Release Date:

2 February 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Never have so few taken so much from so many.

Plot:

In Victorian England, a master criminal makes elaborate plans to steal a shipment of gold from a moving train.

Plot Keywords:

Train | Coffin | Dead Cat | Planning | Key

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Sean Connery	...	Pierce
Donald Sutherland	...	Agar
Lesley-Anne Down	...	Miriam
Alan Webb	...	Trent
Malcolm Terris	...	Fowler
Robert Lang	...	Sharp
Michael Elphick	...	Burgess
Wayne Sleep	...	Clean Willy
Pamela Salem	...	Emily Trent
Gabrielle Lloyd	...	Elizabeth Trent
George Downing	...	Barlow
James Cossins	...	Harranby
John Bett	...	McPherson
Peter Benson	...	Station Despatcher
Janine Duvitski	...	Maggie

Also Known As:

The Great Train Robbery (USA)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | Dolby (as Dolby Sound)

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Ontario - 2006) | Netherlands:6 | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | UK:15 (video rating) (cut) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Ireland:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (video re-rating) (cut) | UK:AA (original rating) (passed with cuts) | USA:PG (certificate #25484) | West Germany:12 (f) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Company:

Starling Films

Trivia:

Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland would both subsequently appear in other adaptations of Michael Crichton's work. Connery would appear in Rising Sun (1993), while Sutherland appeared in Disclosure (1994).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When looking at the mansion from the outside, you see lights coming on through the windows as a person is running from room to room in the middle of the night. These lights very rapidly come on as if someone is flipping electric switches. However the movie is set in 1855 England long before electric lights.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Edward Pierce: [narration] In the year 1855, England and France were at war with Russia in the Crimea. The English troops were paid in gold. Once a month, twenty-five thousand pounds in gold was loaded into strongboxes inside the London bank of Huddleston and Bradford and taken by trusted armed guards to the railway station...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Stranger in the Kingdom (1998)

"I wanted the money."

"The Great Train Robbery" is based on a novel by Michael Crichton. It features the efforts of a band of three to rob gold kept in elaborate safes on a train leaving England to support the Crimean War. The film's costumes, elaborate sets and a score from Jerry Goldsmith are impeccable at creating a sense of Victorian England.

Sean Connery is charming as Edward Pierce, who leads the robbers. Donald Sutherland has a memorable role as Robert Agar, a top-rate thief and accomplice to Pierce. Lesley-Anne Down plays Miriam, Pierce's enchanting female companion who has no scruples about using her womanly charms.

The film follows the elaborate and interesting lengths that the gang must go to before they can even board the train. The elements of a great caper film are there: split-second decisions, tension and improvisations when plans go awry. The film also benefits from a lot of well-placed humor. "The Great Train Robbery" proves to remain interesting throughout the build up to and during the robbery.