There
is the usual schematic division of roles – one to cut the wires, one
to make the smoke bombs, one to drive the getaway van – alongside a
sense that all of these men are seeking a sense of excitement denied
them in the real world. Early on Hawkins introduces them to each other
(and to us) by listing their previous misdemeanours, moving round the
table in a manner reminiscent of Kobayashi in an identical scene in
The Usual Suspects (1995). Indeed, to watch the film is to recognise
several sequences delicately 'homaged' in later works. In the opening
sequence, a tuxedoed man climbs out of a drain, a scene similar to Connery's
first appearance in Goldfinger (1964). Elsewhere, the final getaway
foreshadows a similar event in The Italian Job (1969), and perhaps even
Steven Soderbergh saw the film while prepping Ocean's Eleven (2001)
– both films share a similar vibe, with their charismatic ringleaders,
daring plans and mis-matched criminals.
The
audacity of the plan almost requires a happy ending, but the final touch,
of all the lags handcuffed together in the back of a Black Maria, hints
at the possibility of some new plan being executed. And as for that
boy who helpfully collects car number plates... well, it's undoubtedly
true that in the Big Heist Film, it's always the small, insubstantial
detail that sends the crooks to jail.