A cast of very good actors giving less than stellar performances in a "terribly English" crime drama about four losers banding together to rob a post office van. Contrived situations and sledgehammer dialogue doom this movie to sub-B status. What this project really needed was a scriptwriter with a sense of pace and an ear for dialogue and a strong director - neither of which it has, even though director Lewis Gilbert would indeed go on to better things. One wonders how American director Jules Dassin, who was active in this period and excelled at this kind of movie, would have handled the material - much faster, slicker and entertaining, no doubt. Joan Collins in one of her early roles - her breasts thrusting into the spotlight at every opportunity. Thank God she subsequently got her act together and took herself less seriously. A dreadful performance by the great Gloria Grahame, who played similar roles in other movies to much greater effect. Competent performances by John Ireland and Richard Basehart, despite their klunky dialogue. A showy, slimy performance by matinée idol Laurence Harvey that is waaaay too English to be convincing or believable. The one knockout performance comes from forgotten Welsh actor Stanley Baker as a washed up boxer. Vibrant, passionate, quietly effective when needed. A major talent cut short in his prime. A quality act. Overall the movie suffers from an artificial style of acting that disappeared from the British cinema in the early 60's with the emergence of the working class actors like Finney, Courtenay, O'Toole and Harris - and not a moment too soon. An interesting curiosity of a movie but could have been much better.
Review of The Good Die Young
