vostf This movie really lacks a good director, one with a sense of suspense. The Great Riviera Bank Robbery, aka Sewers of Gold, aka Dirty Money (they definitely were at a loss for ideas to market this unexciting movie) tells the story of the July'76 Société Générale Bank robbery in Nice. It is very much inspired by facts, and the book by self-proclaimed Brain Albert Spaggiari (Sewers of Paradise - 1978) and sticks closely to that line.Unfortunately all the technical elements of the Master Heist are not enough to make the great premise into a great movie. Reality is less interesting than the make believe art of cinema, especially if your heroes are nationalist wingnuts (and if you deem useful to drive this point home with a Hitler portrait and other Third Reich memorabilia). So we've got a Master Heist being re-enacted with very little tension, and no change in rhythm whatsoever.A weak movie that does a clean job of putting all the pieces together, it actually feels like the ITV movie of the week it was meant to be, with everything just shot and edited together without much thought.The 2007 region 2 DVD is a cheap release, sporting a 4:3 ratio which I guess is the original TV framing, so be aware that the "Best Heist Movie ever" other reviewers chuckle over is just a good TV movie.

MisterChandu This film is just perfect. Why it is not available on video is a mystery. It is a great caper film.I do not know much about the Algerian/French nonsense but the implementation of the bank robbery is done very well.The politics mean nothing. The crime is the thing.Planning the operation, getting the help, and then getting away are all you really need for a good caper film.Yeah, they get caught later but spending the cash is where they catch everyone.Damn good film.We need this available once again!

skanners 'Dirty Money' is one of the greatest heist films of all time and also probably one of the least known.Starring a much younger Ian McShane before his 'Deadwood' days ably assisted by Warren Clarke, Christopher Malcolm and Stephen Grief this film details the events which took place in France in 1976.Following description taken from video release from 1981'Strongly committed to the ideals of a French right wing alliance with links in high places all over the world, Bert (IAN MCSHANE) conceives of a brilliant plan to obtain finances to buy arms in the cause of an eventual political take-over.The scene is Nice, playground of the rich and indolent. Over a long weekend the vault of a particular bank will be stuffed with francs. And Bert knows a way in.....through a labyrinthine sewer system, a map of which he has obtained from a contact in the town hall.With colleagues from former fighting days in Indo-China and Algeria, Jean (WARREN CLARKE) and Serge (CHRISTOPHER MALCOLM), Bert reluctantly has to recruit a band of professional criminals to assist in the robbery. The dangerous elements of crime and passionate politics make for uneasy bedfellows..........The criminals look on the job as merely a passport to money and the good life; they cannot understand Bert's ideological approach summed up as 'without arms....without hatred.....without violence'.As the job is planned with meticulous and flawless detail, the personality clashes between the two factions become more and more defined.But the heist goes perfectly and Bert finds more money than he ever dreamed of. There's fifteen million dollars: the biggest bank job in the world.Though the police are completely baffled at first, the criminal members of the robbery team are soon throwing their money around with reckless abandon. As they are caught one by one, Bert manages to avoid capture but in the end he, too, is cornered.Even so, he might still be able to offer the police a deal'.This film is still unavailable on VHS or DVD so you will have to hunt down one of the UK releases on Precision video from 1981 like I did ( It only took me 3 years to find one) - I do not know if there was a VHS release in the US or anywhere else!!!Happy Hunting It'll be worth it

navidson I've seen this film somewhere in the first ten years of my life (some time ago) and I've never seen it, heard of it or found it in a videostore since. I remember minute preparations of the bankrobbers, the accent lying not so much on action sequences but on the careful planning. The movie probably shaped me cause since then I've always looked for this type of plot in films on bankrobberies. Anywayzzz, indeed an undervalued piece of work. As of today i am going on a quest to retrieve this film. I wanna see it again and again and again...