The Great Train Robbery Review
Reviewed by David Savage
Starring: Luke Evans, Neil Maskell, Martin Compston, Jack Gordon, Jim Broadbent
Directed by: Julian Jarrold, James Strong
Certificate: 12
Running Time: 178 minutes (approx.)
Number of Discs: 2
Format: DVD
Release Date: 6 Janaury 2014
RRP: £17.99
This new BBC version of The Great Train Robbery, is about one of the UK’s biggest and best known robberies stealing millions of pounds from a Royal Mail train in 1963.
This new DVD is on 2 discs and is split into 2 parts – Disc 1 is A Robber’s Tale, which covers the story from the perspective of the train robbers. Disc 2 is A Copper’s Tale, which covers the story from the perspective of the policeman trying to catch the train robber’s. The Great Train Robber’s were a gang of 15 led by Bruce Reynolds (although most people probably remember Buster Edwards and Ronnie Biggs).
A Robber’s Tale – Starts with the news that on 8 August 1963 a train was stopped and robbed of £2.6 million (£41 million in today’s money). This is the story of the planning of the heist and the planning that went into it and how it transformed them into Britain’s most wanted.
A Copper’s Tale – Starts 4 days after the robbery, with no clues Detective Chief Superintendent Tommy Butler is sent to investigate and picks his own team of detectives. This is the story of Butler’s attempts to track down the robber’s and his determination to not give up until every last one of them was caught.
Overall, this is a great version of The Great Robber’s which tells the story from both sides without glamorising the theft. It is a very powerful crime drama with superb acting from all the lead characters and is definitely one to own on DVD. This DVD set contains 2 feature length films about the crime of the 20th century and how it affected the lives of the criminals and the policemen chasing them.
The films overall show the brutal and shocking violence used by the gang, how the train drivers career was ended as a result and the determination of one policeman to bring the whole gang to justice and how one mistake at the farmhouse they were using brought them down.
An excellent and powerful drama. Would highly recommend.
Rating: 5/5
Available to buy from Acorn Media here.
