Money Movers (1979)

A Disappointing Continuation

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

The story of an armored car robbery, apparently based on a true case. The acting is solid and the action, especially for a small budget film, is deftly handled, There are a number of good twists and turns along the way. On the other hand, there's a bit of a feeling something's missing, like a unifying theme or underlying ideas. Or even character development. Unlike (for example) Ben Affleck's recent The Town", this is a pretty simple film, just telling you an exciting story as solid B movie entertainment, and not aiming for much more. But there's certainly room for that alongside more 'thoughtful' or character orientated crime flicks. Well shot, well directed by a young Bruce Beresford, and worth seeing if you're a fan of the genre.

Before the late 1960s American film makers had to work in a tightly regulated system as to what they could portray on screen . The Motion Picture Production Code commonly known as " The Hayes Code " stopped film makers in America portraying sex and violence in cinema . It became more and more difficult to enforce as both cultural and social revolution was sweeping the world and with the coming of " The New Hollywood " in the late 1960s the production code was scrapped . This led to much more graphic films whilst retaining artistic imagination and perhaps no one personified this more than Sam Peckinpah the director of THE WILD BUNCH a film so radically different from other Westerns seen effectively destroyed the genre forever . It was round about the same time feminist social critics described war as " menstrual envy " and this theory of films geared towards men where the male protagonists graphically bleed to death gained credibility in metaphysical film criticism Regardless of your views of this provocative theory there's no doubt that MONEY MOVERS certainly ties in with line of thinking . Despite being an Australian movie Bruce Beresford seems to taken a blood soaked page out of the Peckinpah book of film making . Very few of the characters have morals or are in any way likable just like you'd get in a film by " Bloody Sam " . The violence is brutal and is summed up by the tagline : " The lucky ones only lost their toes " and this is a film that lives up to its tagline. The brutality is also far more matter of fact seen in a Tarantino or Scorsese picture It's a film that does play up to the Aussie stereotypes . Men drink beer all the time , are butch and believe that poetry is the sole preserve of " pooftas "but what makes this a memorable thriller is the heart stopping heist at the end with the type of graphic violence which is genuinely shocking . In some ways it's dated ( One of the gang wants to emigrate in Iran if the plan is successful !) and it's a film that is never shown on British TV but along with BREAKER MORANT another film directed by Beresford it's amongst the very best films to come out of Australia

The opening credit sequences show an armoured van on Gladesville bridge in Sydney (not Sydney Harbour Bridge as an earlier review states), then at White Bay above the Rozelle freight yard with all its huge billboards, then Pyrmont Bridge (now a public walkway) very close to the heart of Sydney. The Cahill Expressway above Circular Quay Railway Station (which signage can clearly be seen) also appears in the opening minutes. However, the scene depicting the robbery of an armoured van by masked villains and the subsequent getaway was certainly shot in Adelaide. It is unclear why this film was made in two different cities 1200km apart.The basic story of an insider robbery of a counting house is fairly simple but the subplots get quite complex, and as someone indicated earlier it is sometimes hard to know who is double crossing whom. The director Beresford is obviously a student of film and appears to have gone to great lengths to give this film a tough "noir" edge. I think really he has over-compressed things a little too much. It is fairly short at barely 90 minutes and could have been fleshed out more in places. The final reel gets quite out of control, and its very difficult to discern which of the major players survive to the end of the film. To say the least, the film is extremely tough and violent, sort of like an Aussie cop show of the era with huge helpings of gore. I get the feeling from the "making of" that comes on the DVD, that Beresford might have played the final reel rather differently if he were remaking this film.Many of the lead actors here had achieved fame in Australian television. Ed Devereaux, Tony Bonner, Charles Tingwell, Lucky Grills, Candy Raymond and Frank Wilson were all well known to Australian audiences of the day. Alan Cassell plays a very similar smarmy character to that he later portrayed in The Club (1980). Candy Raymond was a stylish, attractive actress whose main drawback appears to have been a rather small bustline (the actress's own words in the accompanying interviews). It didn't stop her reprising her nude scenes from Dons Party (1976) in this film. Nonetheless, I feel she is underutilised here.The funeral procession scene shot in central Sydney involving numerous Datsun 120Y's and equally numerous armoured vans (all of them white), shot with a very long lens, presents a striking scene, which may have been a nod to the famous motorcycle funeral procession in Stone (1974), made four years earlier in the very same city.I believe Money Movers is some sort of slightly flawed but unique piece of art, not really held in high esteem by its director these days, and certainly not perfect, and extremely hard to find, but well worth tracking down.

One of the most under-rated Oz films of all time!, Brilliantly directed by Beresford it was superbly cast and scripted.Ray Marshall appeared in every scene with a cigarette, and lucky Grills appeared in his normal quota of beer drinking scenes. Not to mention the use of profanity which is normally associated in the workplace which gave the natural realism. Also the plot which assumed that OZ coppers are completely bent really added to the authenticity.And not to mention half the cast of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo being involved in a climatic shootout, BRILLIANT!!!!