The League of Gentlemen
Dir: Basil Dearden
1960
****
The League of Gentlemen is a classic British crime caper. The caper itself isn't really the main attraction as such, although the initial heist in preparation (to gather weapons and ammunition while under the guise of the IRA) is pretty clever and entertaining. It's the characters and their development/introductions that draw you into its charm. The cast is strong, it's hard to say who comes out best as I can't decide between Jack Hawkins, Nigel Patrick and Richard Attenborough. All are brilliant as are the supporting members of the club. There are some unfortunate moments of homophobia but considering Basil Dearden made the brilliant 'Victim' only a few years later I'm inclined to think this was just an unfortunate sign of the times and not meant to be hurtful. The cameo from a young Oliver Reed kind of makes up for it anyway. It's clear to see that The League of Gentlemen has had a huge influence on heist movies ever since, most notably The Italian Job. Although many of those films don't have the same great cast of characters (Ocean's 11 aside) they have generally improved on the ending, which I'm afraid remains the low point of which is a fantastic film.