Money Movers

Bruce Beresford followed the girls-boarding-school drama The Getting of Wisdom with this complete about face: a searing, edge-of-your-seat heist picture that can hold its own with the best film noirs of Hollywood’s golden age. The crackerjack plot revolves around a brazen plan to rob the counting house of an armored-car company—a plot hatched by three of the company’s own employees. Eric (Terence Donovan) has been carefully plotting the job for years, much to the chagrin of his short-tempered brother (Bryan Brown). But when an anonymous note tips off the head of the company that an inside job is in the works, the brothers are forced to accelerate their plan, while trying to steer clear of the crime boss (legendary character actor Charles “Bud” Tingwell) who wants in on the action. Tautly paced and punctuated by sudden, unexpected bursts of violence, Money Movers was a clear influence on such latter-day Aussie crime dramas as Chopper and Animal Kingdom.

Print courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’s Kodak/Atlab Collection.