Movie vs. Reality: The Bank Job
By Felix Quinonez Jr.
September 6, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
In each entry of this column I’m going to be looking at a different movie “based on a true story” or whatever phrasing is attached to it and compare it to the actual story. Hopefully, I’ll be able to separate fact from Hollywood. But I’m also going to be talking about what those changes mean and why they were made. Do the changes have some artistic merit or are they just attempts to make the story fit into a neat Hollywood package?
Sometimes we can’t help but cheer for the “bad” guys. Rooting for people committing reprehensible crimes becomes especially easy when the victims happen to be incredibly wealthy. The whole stealing from the rich thing adds a robin hood-esque element that we can’t get enough of. The Baker Street Robbery definitely fits in the category of crimes we can cheer for.
On September 11, 1971 a group of robbers broke into a branch of the Lloyds Bank in London and ransacked the safety deposit boxes. This robbery became infamous not only because of the ingenious nature of the crime or the amount of money taken but because of the sensitive nature of some of the items the robbers may or may not have taken. The crime quickly - and understandably - became a media sensation, but it just as quickly seemed to be forgotten. The event became shrouded with mystery and the fact that it seemed that the government was trying to cover it up only added to its mystique.
A story like this practically begs to be adapted into a movie, but it actually took quite some time to make its way to the big screen. The journey from pitch to release isn’t always smooth. In this case it took decades. The film idea was actually first pitched in the late 1970s. The hopes were to raise the finances for a project with Michael Caine and Sean Connery. Needless to say that didn’t work out, but the movie did eventually come out in 2008 as The Bank Job. It was directed by Roger Donaldson and it stars Jason Statham.
I’ll admit I didn’t know that how complicated this story was before I picked it for this column. I was under the impression that this was just about a “simple” bank robbery. That’s probably why I wasn’t interested in it enough to have seen it before. I had no idea how complicated it was or how much secrecy surrounded it.
Because of the event’s mysterious nature, I won’t try to presume that I know exactly what the movie got wrong. While I feel confident enough in stating what the film got right I can’t say the same about all of the things it might have gotten wrong. Because of this I added a third section for what remains a mystery.
What the Movie Got Right:
Not surprisingly, the actual robbery is where the movie is the most faithful to the story. One of the ex-gang members actually gave an interview to the British newspaper The Mirror and his account was very similar to the movie’s portrayal. The gang leased a leather accessories shop two spots away from the bank, and they dug a tunnel under a fast-food restaurant to reach the underground bank vault. They tunneled for 40 feet and into the vault of Lloyds Bank on Baker Street, central London. Afterwards, they cut through the reinforced concrete floor with a thermal lance.
The team set up a lookout at a nearby rooftop with whom they communicated with via walkie-talkies. To avoid suspicion, they did the work at night. Unfortunately, no matter how well you plan something, sometimes shit just happens. That was the case for them.
There just happened to be an amateur ham radio operator nearby who stumbled upon their transmissions. His name was Robert Rowlands and he overheard conversations between the robbers and their rooftop lookout at about 11 p.m. and he called the police. At first, the police thought the call was a hoax, but they instructed him to record the conversations while the robbery was in progress. Because the robbers never mentioned the bank by name, the police were unable to identify which bank was being robbed.
At 2 a.m., a senior police officer alerted radio detector vans to track down the gang. Police checked the 750 banks within 10 miles of Mr. Rowlands' receiver, including the Baker Street bank. The police actually did go into the Lloyds Bank while the robbers were there, but because the security door was still locked, the gang was not caught. The thieves made their escape from the bank on Sunday.
It should also be noted that a lot of the dialogue between the robbers is verbatim. Rowlands' recordings were used as reference for the movie.
What the Movie Got Wrong:
Although in the movie it seems that the job was all done relatively quickly, in reality the robbers spent months on the job. The actual tunneling was done over a period of three weekends.
The movie follows a very popular theory that the robbers found some unflattering pictures of a member of the royal family in the vault. It was believed that those pictures belonged to a man named Michael X, who was later hanged for the murder of Gale Ann Benson. The movie portrays Benson as a spy, but this was not true.
At the conclusion of the film, the robbers all get away but the fact is that although they make it out of the bank, four people were eventually arrested for the crime. It is interesting though that their names and sentences were never released to the media.
What Remains a Mystery:
One of the biggest plot points of the movie is the fact that the robbers found incriminating pictures of several royal family members. Although this was a very popular theory, many have dismissed it as an urban myth. Unfortunately, there are also people who believe this was true. As the theory goes, Michael X - a black revolutionary - stored these pictures in one of the bank’s safe boxes. He was using them as “get out of jail free” card.
Supporters of this theory believe that the MI5 helped set up the robbery in hopes to obtain those pictures. Obviously they’ve never admitted to this, but if you’re trying to cover something up you wouldn’t announce it.
Whether or not Michael X really had the infamous pictures in the bank also remains a mystery. He was hanged in 1975 for murder so obviously he can’t confirm or deny. Furthermore, a British government file on Michael X will remain closed until 2054. This is claimed by George McIndoe who served as a producer to the film and is familiar with the case but is disputed by others.
The movie doesn’t really touch on it, but another interesting aspect of this mystery is the fact that four days after the robbery, British authorities banned news outlets from reporting on it by releasing a D-Notice. The story disappeared from newspapers for “national security” reasons. Rowlands, the aforementioned ham radio operator, claimed that the police attempted to prevent him from talking to the press. He also claimed that police threatened to prosecute him for listening to an unlicensed radio station.
The Mirror actually did confirm that Fleet Street editors of the day were approached directly by senior government officials and told to drop the story. But, like other aspects of this story, the D-Notice theory is also disputed. An investigation some years later showed that no D-Notice was ever issued at the time. Furthermore, a D-Notice has no legal status; it is just a request and not a legally enforceable order. The Times newspaper was still reporting about the case over two months later.
One last mystery of the Baker Street robbery is the fate of the criminals. As I’ve stated before, four men were arrested, but their names or sentences were never released to the media. Unfortunately, this may not actually be true either.
Other reports suggest that the identity of the criminals and their sentences have been revealed. The Times (amongst other newspapers) reported in January 1973 that four men had been convicted of the robbery. Three of these men were Anthony Gavin, 38, a photographer from Dalston; Thomas Stephens, 35, a car dealer from Islington; and Reginald Tucker, 37, a company director from Hackney. They all pleaded guilty and received 12 years imprisonment. The fourth man, Benjamin Wolfe, 66, a fancy goods dealer from East Dulwich, pleaded not guilty but was eventually convicted and received eight years. Wolfe had signed the lease on the shop used by the robbers. Two other men accused of handling banknotes from the robbery were acquitted. According to one press report, it was believed that the mastermind of the crime was another London car dealer who was never caught.
Verdict:
Because of the mystery surrounding the case it is impossible for any movie to portray the events 100% accurately. For all we know, this could have actually been the way it happened but there is no way to prove it. It is best to think of this movie as depicting one of the many different ways the events could have gone down.
While it does have some verifiable fabrications it is still close enough to reality. The movie’s biggest success is that it shines a light on a very bizarre and strange bank heist that seems to have been largely forgotten (I didn’t know about it). It not only depicts one of the many theories surrounding the event but it sparks an interest in finding out more about it. Once you’ve seen the movie, you can’t help but feel the urge to go out and learn more about the events that inspired it because sometimes fact really is stranger than fiction.
Next Time: United 93