The Big Job (film)

The Big Job is a British comedy film which was released in 1965.[1] It starred Sid James, Dick Emery, Joan Sims, Sylvia Syms, Jim Dale and Lance Percival.

The Big Job
UK theatrical poster
Directed byGerald Thomas
Produced byFrank Bevis
Peter Rogers
Written byJohn Antrobus
Talbot Rothwell
StarringSid James
Dick Emery
Joan Sims
Sylvia Syms
Jim Dale
Lance Percival
Edina Ronay
Music byEric Rogers
CinematographyAlan Hume
Edited byRod Nelson-Keys
Production
company
Peter Rogers Productions
Anglo-Amalgamated
Distributed byWarner-Pathé Distributors
Release date
5 October 1965
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Big Job shared its cast and production team with the Carry On films, but the film was not officially part of the Carry On series, despite being a typical Carry On format. The film was photographed in black and white, while the Carry On films from the mid 1960s were in colour.[2]

Plot

The story begins in London in 1950. A gang of robbers led by the self-proclaimed George "The Great" Brain (Sid James) rob a bank, stealing £50,000. They choose a hearse as a getaway vehicle and are pursued and caught by the police. However, before being caught they manage to conceal the money (which is in a briefcase) in the trunk of a hollow tree, before all three are arrested. The gang are sentenced to serve fifteen years in Wormwood Scrubs prison.

Upon their release in 1965, the gang go back to the spot where they had left the money, only to find it is now a new town, and a housing estate has been built around the tree. They are dismayed that the tree now lies in the grounds of the local police station - but it is invitingly close to the boundary wall. George and his gang take up rooms in a nearby house rented from a widow and her daughter who also live there. They rent two double rooms on the first floor. In order to provide a respectable front, George reluctantly agrees to marry his longtime girlfriend Myrtle Robbins (Sylvia Syms) who is not so enamoured about the idea of recovering the loot and wants George to settle down with her.

The incompetent criminals fail in their numerous attempts to get over or under the wall, all the while trying to conceal their true activities from their landlady (Joan Sims), her daughter (Edina Ronay) and a local police constable (Jim Dale) who also stays there. Eventually, when the men have botched an attempt to tunnel into the grounds, the frustrated women hatch their own plot to gain the money, and succeed, only to find that the money has been shredded by mice nesting in the tree.

Cast

Critical reception

Time Out wrote, "this 'unofficial' Carry On reproduces the familiar formula of its virtually institutionalised predecessors."[3]

Production

Peter Rogers had a script for what eventually would be The Big Job, but elected not to incorporate it into the Carry On series. Of the principal cast, only Sylvia Syms and Dick Emery did not feature in at least one Carry On. The film was principally shot at Pinewood Studios, with exteriors at Silver Hill, Chalfont St Giles (the bank), Fulmer and Bracknell (residential and town streets) and Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire (countryside).[4]

gollark: But it's widely understood that a good way to understand something is to learn about the factors which led to it being the way it is.
gollark: I might not not not not not not not not not not be.
gollark: They should really teach design and implementation of religions.
gollark: Why are *those* your two options? What?
gollark: Anyway. Median American families are not actually you[citation needed]. You have different preferences and different requirements. Consider them.

See also

References
  1. The Big Job (1965) - Plot summary
  2. The Big Job at IMDb Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  3. The Big Job | review, synopsis, book tickets, showtimes, movie release date | Time Out New York
  4. "Reel Streets". Reel Streets. 26 August 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.