This rousing crime caper was the first feature from the Allied Film Makers company, with most of its founder members - producer Michael Relph, director Basil Dearden, screenwriter Bryan Forbes and actors Jack Hawkins and Richard Attenborough - making solid contributions. Dating from a time when every third word a crook said didn't begin with an "f", this distant ancestor of such bungled heist pics as Reservoir Dogs gets off to a rather stodgy start, but once Hawkins has assembled his far from magnificent seven and his intricate plan begins to unravel, the action really hots up. It's certainly not to be missed.

Involuntarily-retired Colonel Hyde recruits seven other dissatisfied ex-servicemen for a special project. Each of the men has a skeleton in the cupboard, is short of money, and is a service-trained expert in his field. The job is a bank robbery, and military discipline and planning are imposed by Hyde and second-in-command Race on the team, although civilian irritations do start getting in the way.