Leofwine_draca THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN is a classy, black and white British caper film about a group of distinguished gentlemen who team up to commit a daring robbery. In that respect it has much in common with the likes of THE Italian JOB, although THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN could have done with a few more laughs to make it that bit more entertaining; there's a wonderful cast in this one, but it can be a slog in paces.The script is a bit uneven at times and the pacing flags here and there, only really coming to life during the excellent heist scenes. They could have shorn 20 minutes or so off the running time to make this a more exciting production. Still, the ensemble cast is enough to keep you watching, with the likes of Jack Hawkins, Nigel Patrick, Richard Attenborough, and Terence Alexander all excelling in their parts and plenty of smaller roles for familiar faces. A shame about that downbeat ending, though.

verbusen Yes they get busted at the end. It's 1960 in England, who were more conservative then France, and maybe even America at this point, when it comes to crime films. Still, a great film for us men to watch, especially veterans who can relate to the camaraderie. I knew from the start they would get busted, somewhere along the line they would get revealed, a kid taking down license plate numbers? Whatever. It could have been a person in the street who recognized something, it's like whatever we all knew they would get busted because ALL films back then demanded that. I'm thinking this film actually brought on some back lash as to how lame crime films were. In about 5 or so years the endings would most likely stay the same but then again, maybe not? The times were changing and you can't fault this film too much for an ending that was demanded of it. 8 of 10, great caper film despite the state demanded ending. BTW, doesn't the Adjunct (XO in America) look like a mid aged Bill Murray? Thats the way I watched it through. Cheers.

bkoganbing Release just 12 days apart and on both sides of the Atlantic were a pair of caper films involving a group of war veterans pulling off a big heist. On the American side was Ocean's Eleven the first and best of the Rat Pack film where Frank Sinatra and his ring-a-ding army pals try to rob five casinos in Las Vegas. And on the British side was Jack Hawkins recruiting The League Of Gentlemen for a caper of his own.We never learn the reason why Hawkins is so disgruntled, but I'm sure it was a good one. And unlike Sinatra who recruited friends Hawkins did some meticulous research and came up with seven total strangers all of whom had disgraced the uniform in some manner. With all their resumes in front of him, Hawkins is sure he's found his crew. And they include Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey, Richard Attenborough, Bryan Forbes, Kieron Moore, Terence Alexander, and Norman Bird.Ocean's Eleven depended on the chemistry of the players and since all there were buddies in good standing with Sinatra, it had a casual kind of feeling even during the scenes of the actual robbery. In The League Of Gentlemen it was a different kind of chemistry as Hawkins forges a unit together. Not without problems because these guys are by definition individualists who did not take kindly to military discipline in the first place. Besides Hawkins who seemed to like the idea of being back in the army so to speak, the best performances were from Nigel Patrick as the most individual of the lot who gives Hawkins some reasonable concern and Roger Livesey. I don't think Livesey's character would have been allowed on the American cinema as the Code was still in place. He plays a disgraced and defrocked chaplain. When we meet all of them in their dwellings as they get the mysterious invitation to join Hawkins at his club, we see they don't exactly have the best domestic situations going. Part of why they were easy to recruit.This one has to rank as one of Jack Hawkins's stellar cinematic efforts. And it holds up very well for today's audience.

dbborroughs This is a caper film that just kind of fell flat for me.The premise is that a forced to retire army officer gets together a bunch of disgraced army men to rob a bank. We watch as the plan is hatched, and executed in stages before the big job itself.While I like the idea of the film it just didn't work for me.It's much too talky so that it's kind of dull in an all talk no action sort of way. The real problem is the direction which is much too artificially staged. It's directed so everyone is always in a line up or standing so they are facing the camera. It weird and unnatural. It takes the edge off everything.It really fell flat for me and I ended up zipping through the last half hour because I had stopped caring