The First Great Train Robbery
| The First Great Train Robbery | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Michael Crichton |
| Produced by | John Foreman |
| Screenplay by | Michael Crichton |
| Based on |
The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton |
| Starring |
Sean Connery Donald Sutherland Lesley-Anne Down |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Geoffrey Unsworth |
| Edited by | David Bretherton |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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110 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7 million |
| Box office | $13,027,857 |
The First Great Train Robbery – known in the U.S. as The Great Train Robbery – is a 1979 film directed by Michael Crichton, who also wrote the screenplay based on his novel The Great Train Robbery. The film stars Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland, and Lesley-Anne Down.
In 1854, Edward Pierce (Sean Connery), a charismatic member of London's high society, is secretly a master thief. He plans to steal a monthly shipment of gold from the London to Folkestone train which is meant as payment for British troops fighting in the Crimean War. The gold is heavily guarded in two heavy safes in the baggage car, each of which has two locks, requiring a total of four keys. Pierce recruits Robert Agar (Donald Sutherland), a pickpocket and screwsman. Pierce's mistress Miriam (Lesley-Anne Down) and his chauffeur Barlow (George Downing) join the plot, and a train guard, Burgess (Michael Elphick), is bribed into participation. The executives of the bank who arrange the gold transport, the manager Mr. Henry Fowler (Malcolm Terris) and the president Mr. Edgar Trent (Alan Webb), each possess a key; the other two are locked in a cabinet at the offices of the South Eastern Railway at the London Bridge train station. In order to hide the robbers' intentions, wax impressions are to be made of each of the keys.
Pierce ingratiates himself with Trent by feigning a shared interest in ratting. He also begins courting Trent's spinster daughter, Elizabeth (Gabrielle Lloyd), to learn the location of her father's key. Pierce and Agar successfully break into Trent's home at night, and make a wax impression of the key before making a clean getaway despite a close call with the butler.
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