The Brink's Job

Not to be confused with one of the biggest British crime jobs ever, The Brink's MAT job, this American film is also based on a real event and like the British job pulled many years later, the bulk of the stolen money was never recovered.

The action kicks off in 1938 when Tony Pino (Peter Falk), a small time thief, and some of his mates go down for six years after getting caught on a botched job in a meat factory (guts ‘n’ all). What's six years in the pen, huh? No sooner is he out than he is up to his old tricks again. Next ‘job’ is robbing a Bubblegum Factory, only for the gang to realize there’s bugger all in the safe! Instead, they end up wading through tons of bubble gum accidentally unleashed upon them by Pino’s brother-in-law, dimwit Vinnie (Allen Garfield). Well, next job will have to fare better…

Almost by default the wily Pino, who has a respectable sideline job working in a diner, clocks that security at the nearby ‘Brinks Security & Protection Company’ is a little lax to say the least. First, Pino and his motley crew manage to rob a considerable amount of cash from a Brink’s armored car – something that makes for a rather funny scene. Later he disguises himself as a bogus sparkplug operative to get a thorough look at the apparently impenetrable Brink’s headquarters, dubbed the Brink Fortress. This is a ploy to get a mold of the access key. A piece of cake, this! Realizing that even the vault room has an alarm that operates at only 10% the decision is made to plan an elaborate robbery, masterminded by Pino.

Aboard are Vinnie, the somewhat crazed Iwo Jima veteran Specs O’ Keefe (Warren Oates), the super-slick debonair Jazz Maffi (Paul Sorvino) and arrogant Joe McGinnis (Peter Boyle). Despite all odds - as mentioned earlier security is pretty godam slack at Brink’s - this rather disparate bunch actually pull it off and get away with a fortune (for the time). The ‘historic event’ happened on Jan 17th, 1950 and was then considered the crime of the century – even prompting FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (Sheldon Leonard) to take an interest in the capture of the robbers.

Trouble is the spending of such a large amount of money - it always was and always is. Soon, the arm of the law stretches out to the home of Pino and his long-suffering wife Mary (Gena Rowlands), indeed, the couple are so used to the cops dropping by that Mary invites the lot to stay for dinner! Despite Pino being a mega suspect the cops can’t pin him down, at least not yet. That’s going to happen a short while later thanks to the carelessness and sheer stupidity of Specs O’ Keefe and another gang member who get arrested for burglary charges en route in Pennsylvania. Soon, the entire gang is behind bars. On their way to court, the assembled public cheers the boys on as if they are celebrities. As was mentioned earlier, the bulk of booty was never recovered and one can't help wondering if the guys got a little present after fourteen years in the slammer.

The film didn't do terribly well at the box office on its initial release. Director Friedkin had had some monster hits with The French Connection and The Exorcist but something seemed to go wrong here. Somehow the formula of combining crime with comedy does not meld and perhaps it would have been more successful if played straight. This is all the more surprising with its stellar cast who can't really be faulted and are headed by Falk (who'd succeeded in comedy before), taking time off from Columbo. Still, it is good to look at thanks to cinematographer Norman Leigh and was nominated for an ‘Academy Award’ for Best Art Direction.