The Great Van Robbery

The usual suspects commit a daring postal robbery. A year later, some of the hundred-fifty-thousand pounds show up in Brazil and Scotland Yard sends its Interpol Man, Denis Shaw, to track down the baddies.

It's a cheap and efficiently run quickie from the Danziger Brothers, in which foreign locations are indicated by stock footage, signs on anonymous buildings and clips of music -- we know we're in Rome because the musical cue is "Santa Lucia" and in Paris because it's "Frere Jacques" -- and the locals waver between their stage accents and doing foreign ones. All the cops are efficient and it's not long before Shaw is back in London, closing in on the baddies, despite numerous wounds; the portly actor dispatches two thugs with guns with only a minor flesh wound and then heads out for the final confrontation, despite orders to take it easy for a couple of days. DP Nicholas Roeg gets only a couple of interesting shots, although the final shootout amid a cascade of coffee beans should have been interesting were the print I saw better than it was.

Before the Great Train Robbery there was the Great Van Robbery.

Made with the modest resources you'd expect of a Danzigers production, every expense has been spared; the economy extending to the choice of star. Step forward Denis Shaw, who though hefty of build is given the opportunity to prove himself surprisingly light on his feet and quick on the judo.

Produced by the Danzigers Bros production, who, in the early sixties and late fifties, provided the most of the grade B crime thrillers - with the Butchers Company too, this short crime flick is just fun to watch, but so lousy...Nothing to do with Sidney Hayers' PAYROLL or Cliff Owen's PRIZE OF ARMS, same period. LEAGUE OF THE GENTLEMEN was also at another scale. I repeat, this one is agreeable, just agreeable, and don't get misunderstood by the title. It is not a heist movie, just an armored - or maybe not after all - van robbery just after the opening credits, and the rest is just ron on the mill. But what can we expect from Max Varnel?

The 'West German' title for this film is 'Der Dicke von Scotland Yard' which sounds vaguely uncomplimentary. It's also inaccurate as the 'Dicke' (or detective) actually works for Interpol. Granted, he does seem to spend a lot of time at the Yard when he's not flying all over the world trying to track down the bad guys.

The English title itself is misleading. If it is 'The Great Van Robbery' shouldn't we see a bit of planning, a bit of recruiting of the gang that is to carry out the great robbery? Maybe even a dry run?

Even if it included those elements, the title is still not a grabber.

All these are mere quibbles. Writer Brian Clemens succeeds in holding our interest by exploring how one might launder a large amount of stolen currency.

This low-budget epic is fast-moving with an unlikely looking hero who despite carrying a fair bit of weight (I should talk!), performs impressively in the fight scenes and even clambering up (and jumping off) loading docks.

The shoot-out at the end leaves something to be desired. You've heard of 'phoning it in' ? Director Max Varnel must have sent his instructions in by delayed telegram. Perversely, this is watchable to see how it shouldn't be done.