Highly Overrated But Still Good

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Shot largely on location in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Sidney Hayers' "Payroll" is a remarkably good British heist movie dealing, not just with a robbery, but with dishonour amongst thieves. It's not quite "The Asphalt Jungle" or "Rififi" but it's an outstanding example of its kind with a first-rate script by George Baxt, excellent cinematography from Ernest Steward and sterling direction from Hayers. It's also got a great cast that includes Michael Craig, Tom Bell, Billie Whitelaw (superb), Kenneth Griffith and the French actress Francoise Prevost while the robbery itself is brilliantly handled, if only by the film-makers and not the robbers. Something of a small genre classic.

They don't make them as good as this any more! It has all the ingredients of a first class crime film - good plot - great actors and moves at a fast pace with never a dull moment.

Producer: Norman Priggen. A Julian Wintle—Leslie Parkyn Production, presented by Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy. Copyright 25 May 1962 by Lynx Films. U.S. release through Allied Artists: June 1962. New York opening (on the lower half of a double bill with Day of the Triffids) at neighborhood theaters: 10 May 1963. U.K. release through Anglo Amalgamated: 21 May 1961. Australian release (if any): Not recorded. 9,450 feet. 105 minutes. Cut to 94 and then 80 minutes in U.S.A. SYNOPSIS: Harry Parker (William Peacock) and his wife Jackie (Billie Whitelaw) have a couple of kids, are happy and are getting along fine. The future looks bright, for Harry and his partner Moore (Glyn Houston) have got the contract to carry the weekly payroll of a large company in their new, bandit-proof car — a security assignment that could lead to many more for the new two-man business. This news comes as a shock to handsome Johnny Mellors (Michael Craig). For months he has, with the help of a weak company employee, Dennis Pearson (William Lucas), tailed and timed the old car that used to do the wages run. And that's time well spent when the payroll in question is £100,000 a week.Despite the armored car, Johnny is not going to let go of the prize. His plan to grab this fortune in notes is simple and bold.COMMENT: (On the full DVD version from Optimum): They took 25 minutes out for the U.S. release and it's hard to imagine where they got this amount of slack footage from. True, Miss Prevost is somewhat lacking in color and glamour and undoubtedly some of her scenes could go without being missed, but otherwise this is a compact and excitingly staged, if predictably plotted crime melodrama, with the advantage of appropriately atmospheric actual locations in grimy Newcastle. It's competently acted, though William Lucas rather overdoes his part as a nervous clerk and Miss Whitelaw is neither photographed nor costumed to her advantage. The direction is at its best in the action spots, though sharp film editing increases the tempo of the film whenever things seem to be slowing down. And at least Mr. Craig is much less wooden than usual.

One one level, PAYROLL (1961) is another in the long line of heist films so perfectly initiated by John Huston's THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950). At that level, the film holds its own: a British version of the familiar plot concerning a planned robbery, interpersonal conflicts, betrayals, and tragedy. But PAYROLL deserves special mention among the likes of ARMORED CAR ROBBERY (1950), RIFIFI (1955), THE KILLING (1956), ROBBERY (1967) and numerous others. This film has a fast pace and a dynamic directing style all its own. A fantastically exciting film with top-drawer performances by a cast that includes a few names that would achieve greater fame later on. A top-drawer Noir-tinged thriller with a strong sense of fatality, aided by Reg Owen's jazz-inflected music and by stark black & white photography, displaying Newcastle locations to great effect.