Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Robbery Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 30, 2019

Peter Yates' "Robbery" (1967) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage trailer for the film and new audio commentary by critic Nick Pinkerton. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked'.

Team work

The bulk of the events that are chronicled in Peter Yates’ film are real. They are also recreated with such impressive precision that at times it seems like they might have been extracted from a documentary feature.

Stanley Baker is Paul Clifton, a perfectionist who leads a gang of thieves that have done a number of big jobs. They have made good money, but need more before they split up and retire someplace warm and sunny. Their next job, which Clifton has been planning for months, will allow them to do precisely that. It is a big one, perhaps even too big, but Clifton is convinced that it is doable if everyone follows his instructions.

They will rob a night mail train heading from Glasgow to London immediately after the holidays. The train will be transporting two, possibly even three million pounds, but it won’t be heavily guarded. This does not mean that they will have plenty of time to stop the train, get the money and disappear. No, they will have a fixed period of time and a lot of things could go wrong. They will have to be careful after the robbery as well because everyone will be looking for them.

There are a few dramatic events that are seen through Clifton’s eyes, but the majority of the film is actually one big “How to Do a Robbery” lesson. Not only are the preparations incredibly detailed, but there are actually very illuminating discussions about the type of risks the thieves could potentially face during and after the robbery.

The robbery is fascinating to behold. For example, various sequences are without dialog and the camera is fully focused on the work the masked thieves do. Here the atmosphere seems similar to that of Jules Dassin’s classic gangster film Rififi, but the time management isn’t the same. Indeed, Clifton’s thieves are in the middle of nowhere and they are facing very different threats. They also work in groups and as a result communication is a lot more complicated.

Early into the film there is a long and very intense chase sequence through the streets of London that Walter Hill must have studied before he completed The Driver. Here the camera positioning and movement as well as the editing are probably as effective as they could have been during the early 1960s. (The technical brilliance of this particular sequence was one of the key reasons why immediately after this film, Yates was contracted to shoot the classic Bullitt for Warner Brothers).

Baker is great as the intelligent leader who understands exactly when and what could go wrong with the plan if his men do not follow his orders. James Booth is brilliant as the suspicious and equally intelligent Inspector George Langdon. There are memorable cameos by Barry Foster, Frank Finlay, George Sewell, and William Marlowe. Joanna Pettet plays a frustrated wife who is left to wonder what could have been.

The film’s very popular energetic orchestral score was created by composer-arranger Johnny Keating (Peter Collinson’s Innocent Bystanders, Richard Quine’s Hotel). The main theme, “Born to Lose”, is sung by Jackie Lee.

Robbery Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Peter Yates' Robbery arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from the same 2K remaster that a few years ago British Network used when they prepared this Region-B release of the film. Our review of the first release contains detailed information about the restoration work that was done on the film.

I have not changed my opinion on the technical presentation. I viewed the film earlier tonight, and I think that if a decision was made to keep the remaster as raw as possible the end product would have been flawless. The current presentation is still very good, but the film looks a tiny bit softer than I would have liked. Indeed, the grain has been toned down a bit and as a result some very fine nuances are not as nicely exposed as they should be. The good news is that the work was done very carefully, and a lot of the darker footage that should have been problematic actually looks quite nice. Clarity should be better, but there is enough to like, and on a larger screen there is still plenty of proper depth. Also, occasionally the visuals become thicker because some of the blacks begin to crush, but as you could see from the various darker/nighttime screencaptures that are included with our review shadow definition does not suffer dramatically. I find the color scheme convincing. There are solid and healthy primaries and decent ranges of nuances. Finally, conventional age-related imperfections have been carefully removed, and now the film looks virtually spotless. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Robbery Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit). Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track was remastered during the restoration and the end result is solid. The only reason why I am not giving it a perfect score is because there are a few places where the audio becomes a tad flat, almost as if the upper register was toned down a bit, but this could very well be an inherited limitation of the original mono soundtrack. Regardless, your viewing experience will be satisfying.

Robbery Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage unrestored trailer for Robbery. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• Commentary - in this new audio commentary, critic Nick Pinkerton. a big fan of Robbery, discusses in great detail the real event that inspired Peter Yates to shoot it, the film's very interesting narrative construction and the manner in which time is managed in it, the various locations that were used in different sequences, the different characters and how they are played by the actors, and some of the major reasons behind the film's lasting appeal.

Robbery Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Stanley Baker leads a gang of fearless thieves in Peter Yates' classic crime drama Robbery about the legendary 1963 British Royal Mail robbery. After this film, which features a remarkable chase sequence, Yates went on to direct the iconic Bullitt with Steve McQueen and Jacqueline Bisset. Kino Lorber's new release of Robbery is sourced from the same 2K remaster of the film that a few years ago British label Network Releasing introduced. I think that it is good, though it could have been spectacular. Also, this release has a very nice audio commentary by critic Nick Pinkerton, who is apparently a big fan of Robbery, so even if you have the Region-B release, I urge you to consider picking it up for your library. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.