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Crooks Anonymous

Crooks Anonymous
Crooks Anonymous.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Ken Annakin
Produced by Leslie Parkyn
Julian Wintle
Written by Henry Blyth
Jack Davies
Starring Leslie Phillips
Stanley Baxter
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Julie Christie
Cinematography Ernest Steward
Edited by John Trumper
Production
company
Distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors
Release date
1962
Running time
88 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

Crooks Anonymous is a British comedy film from 1962. Directed by Ken Annakin, it starred Leslie Phillips and Stanley Baxter and was notable for one of the earliest appearances of Julie Christie.

Captain "Dandy Forsdyke" (Leslie Phillips) is a habitual criminal who can't resist a tempting robbery. His gifts are for pickpocketing and safecracking. However, he is engaged to Babette, a stripper (Julie Christie) who wants him to go straight before they marry.

In love with Babette, he desperately wants to quit, but is always lured back into another crime by his associates. Babette comes across a society known as Crooks Anonymous who help hardened thieves go straight. Founded by Mr Montague (Wilfrid Hyde-White), and funded by a generous legacy, they have an excellent track record. Babette agrees to help them cure Forsdyke.

Forsdyke is picked up during a robbery by a Crooks Anonymous man Brother Widdowes (Stanley Baxter) disguised as a policeman, and taken to the Crooks Anonymous headquarters. Confronted by Montague, Forsdyke admits that he wants to give up crime and marry Babette. They begin to interrogate him, and discover that he is a habitual liar, whose real name is Cox, who has never seen military service, despite his claim to be a decorated veteran.

Widdowes and Montague embark Forsdyke on a dose of punishment and rehabilitation. They begin by locking him in a room filled with safes, which contain cigarettes, food, drink and a number of booby traps which make opening them a hazardous business. After a week of this torture, Forsdyke is beginning to crack. Nonetheless, he fails a test to see how much progress he has made, reverting to his old ways as soon as he is outside.

After a month of training, Forsdyke finally passes the test and is released into society. He moves into a house with Babette, gets a job working as Father Christmas in a department store and refuses an offer by one of his old pals to go back into criminality.


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