I was bored this afternoon and idly flicking through channels, when I found the monochrome pair of Stanley Baker and Tom Bell, dressed in Military Police uniforms breaking into an army base, obviously up to no good. I was hooked - I'd obviously missed a chunk of the film but it was immediately obvious they were just about to perform a heist.
I'd never seen A Prize of Arms before, although I like Baker as a rough-hewn tough. Apparently he preferred playing villains because they get the best roles. It gripped me as a film, the carefully-planned raid is going to go wrong. Good on military detail. Excellent acting, script by Nicholas Roeg, and a wide range of Brit character actors playing small parts. Had no music telling you what to feel, and it is curiously tense despite a minimum of violence: (there's a lovely moment when the military police are coming after the gang with revolvers drawn and one officer asks another if they have been issued ammo. [SEMI SPOILER] The answer is no...I won't repeat the answer which made me laugh.)
I'd say a minor classic - I was surprised how unclunky it was and kept you watching.
I'd never seen A Prize of Arms before, although I like Baker as a rough-hewn tough. Apparently he preferred playing villains because they get the best roles. It gripped me as a film, the carefully-planned raid is going to go wrong. Good on military detail. Excellent acting, script by Nicholas Roeg, and a wide range of Brit character actors playing small parts. Had no music telling you what to feel, and it is curiously tense despite a minimum of violence: (there's a lovely moment when the military police are coming after the gang with revolvers drawn and one officer asks another if they have been issued ammo. [SEMI SPOILER] The answer is no...I won't repeat the answer which made me laugh.)
I'd say a minor classic - I was surprised how unclunky it was and kept you watching.
