Payroll

Payroll

20/5/1962 1h 45m 6.7/10

Overview

A vicious gang of crooks plan to steal the wages of a local factory, but their carefully laid plans go wrong, when the factory employs an armoured van to carry the cash. The gang still go ahead with the robbery, but when the driver of the armoured van is killed in the raid, his wife plans revenge, and with the police closing in, the gang start to turn on each other.

Director

Clive Reed

Top Billed Cast

Michael Craig

Michael Craig

Johnny Mellors

Tom Bell

Tom Bell

Blackie

William Lucas

William Lucas

Dennis Pearson

Kenneth Griffith

Kenneth Griffith

Monty

Billie Whitelaw

Billie Whitelaw

Jackie Parker

Françoise Prévost

Françoise Prévost

Katie Pearson

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

11/7/2022

7/10

Michael Craig is surprisingly effective in this British crime drama. He leads a nasty gang of hoodlums bent own robbing the poorly guarded payroll of a factory. Poorly guarded, that is, until - much to the gang's chagrin - they upgrade the protection to an armoured van. Determined to proceed, though, and after a nervous series of roadwork setbacks, they hit the van, steal the loot and the driver is killed. The widow - "Katie" (a solid performance from Françoise Prévost) is not for giving up, and agreeing with the police that the criminals must have had a man on the inside, she begins an investigation of her own. Meantime, the fatality and the need to keep the loot hidden until the dust settles is causing friction amongst the robbers and with the police closing in and the nerves shredding they begin to turn in on themselves. Sidney Hayers delivers a quickly and tautly paced film for us here, with a strong supporting cast including Billie Whitelaw, the always reliable Kenneth Griffith and Tom Bell all contributing to the general sense of encroaching peril as the truth is sought by the bloodhound "Insp. Carberry" (Andrew Faulds). It does take a bit too long getting going, but once in it's stride this is quite an enthralling watch that culminates predictably, but well.

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