The Brink's Job

Would never go as far as saying this film is a forgotten gem ! .... but it is still enjoyable and that is down to the likeable cast and the easy going feel of them film ... Recommended for a one time watch , pretty forgettable but it has a certain charm to it which leaves a smile on your face !

I remember when this movie was filmed back in 78. yeah its dating myself. The movie was filmed at MCI ( Massachusetts Correctional Facility) Concord, Concord Mass. My father while actually working there was an extra. I had a chance to meet Mr.Falk and a few others as a kid ( I was ten). We had free tickets to the opening. I thought it was an awesome movie about bungling thieves. Most folks expected a serious thief/heist movie. Although based on an actual event. I found the movie comical. Although it didn't have Mini coopers jumping through a European city. It did serve its purpose as a good funny movie. A good buy as a bargain.

What's impressive about "The Brink's Job" is that it's a true story that also manages to be a lighthearted comedy. I had never heard of the Great Brink's Robbery until watching this movie, but William Friedkin managed to turn it into a fun story. Peter Falk, Peter Boyle, Warren Oates, Gena Rowlands, Paul Sorvino, Sheldon Leonard* and the rest of the cast turn in fine performances. It was a pleasant surprise to see Malachy McCourt (the brother of "Angela's Ashes" author Frank McCourt) in a supporting role. It so happened that I had watched this just a few hours after watching the horror-fantasy flick "Q", which also featured him in a supporting role. It was a pure coincidence that I rented two movies that happened to star him.

All in all, a good movie. I suspect that they had fun filming it. Really different turn for Friedkin after "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist".

*Put another way, the movie stars Columbo, Frankenstein's monster, one of the Wild Bunch, the woman under the influence, Henry Kissinger and the producer of several TV shows (and namesake of the main characters on "The Big Bang Theory").

A group of small-time crooks in Boston successfully rob millions of dollars from an inept and complacent security firm, only to get their collars felt.

This film's script is based on real-life events in 1950 and many hundreds of hours of interviews with surviving members of the gang. The film is played part action, part for laughs.

The FBI were convinced that this was the work of organised crime and/or communists, spent a fortune trying to crack the case, and only ever retrieved a small fraction of the loot. Some of the local population treated the crooks as folk heroes, which the authorities were not at all keen on.

The film is basically not at all bad but it is slightly unevenly paced and of course rather slow by modern standards, being (for a movie) fairly realistic. Also whilst Falk is a pretty good actor rather than a one-trick pony , it is difficult to look past Lt Columbo and see him as a small time crook here.

So overall with caveats (I.e. bearing in mind what the film is about and how it is made), I give this 7/10.

In 1938 Boston, petty criminal Tony Pino (Peter Falk) and his robbery gang get caught. In 1944, his friend Joe McGinnis (Peter Boyle) picks him up after getting released from prison. He rejoins wife Mary (Gena Rowlands). He gets a new crew which includes idiot brother-in-law Vinnie (Allen Garfield), disturbed war veteran Specs O'Keefe (Warren Oates), and Jazz Maffie (Paul Sorvino). The bumbling crew struggles to rob a candy factory. Tony passes by Brink's and is enticed by the cash. He talks into the warehouse and copies a key. The crew starts stealing from the trucks but no one seems to catch on. They realize the careless security and robs the vault for $1 million. The large amount and notoriety draws in J. Edgar Hoover (Sheldon Leonard).

It's a fine period heist movie from William Friedkin. There's a bit of fun. This is not a high functioning crew. It could easily turn into a more slapstick comedy than it already is. There are some great idiocy like Specs suggesting blasting the vault with a bazooka. There are bits and pieces of goodness but I'm less enamored with the last section. It becomes a muddle as the crew is gathered up. The action is lost and I can't figure out each character. Normally, the action would go bigger into the climax. I do have respect for going the other way including Mary casually making dinner for the cops.