Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #209607 in DVD
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English

Amazon.com
The League of Gentlemen is a sardonic crime drama in which Jack Hawkins plays an embittered retired army officer who recruits seven fellow ex-soldiers to carry out a bank raid with military precision. The film presents an England between post-war austerity and the more liberated 1960s where traditional moral certainties were rapidly being discarded; a London where ex-officers left on the scrapheap at war's end could justify turning their military experience to armed robbery. Unfortunately the tale is neither particularly amusing or thrilling, with an overlong central detour via an army camp prefacing the exciting heist and a largely anti-climactic ending. Nevertheless Hawkins effectively subverts his heroic officer type from The Cruel Sea (1953) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and there’s excellent support from a great cast including Nigel Patrick, Richard Attenborough and Roger Livesey.

Bryan Forbes not only wrote the cynical screenplay but co-starred with wife Nanette Newman in her first significant screen role. More influential than truly classic, The League of Gentlemen has lent its name to a modern BBC comedy and an "Extraordinary" comic strip-turned-movie, and proved the template for heist films ever since, including both versions of The Italian Job (1969 and 2003). --Gary S. Dalkin

Customer Reviews

Brilliant 60's movie about a well planned bank robbery
Great acting throughout, fantastic lighting and overall quality. This movie will keep you in suspense until the end credits.

The thinking person's 'Ocean's Eleven'
An underappreciated British classic full of wit and irony. A cadre of ex-servicemen seek to escape their dreary, pinched lives in postwar Britain by reuniting for one last 'mission'.

A classic!
Funny, sharp witted, well-made. A clear influence on THE DIRTY DOZEN. Nigel Patrick is a stand-out. Roger Livesy steals the film with his imitation of a General. British life is well-observed; "Bunny" is a high-light. Don't miss this!