Stark and bleak of expression with mixed performances, too much talk, and several dramatically muddled and muffed sequences

Stanley Baker's superb interpretation of a criminal

Ray Milland and Patricia Roc in Circle of Danger (1951)

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I don't know why you or Saffron do anything, but I'm not having a killing in my prison. It would look bad on my record.

Julie Christie, Dirk Bogarde, and Stanley Baker in The Big Night (1951)

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Margit Saad in The Concrete Jungle (1960)

Stanley Baker

Sam Wanamaker

Grégoire Aslan

Alun Owen

Jimmy Sangster

In the UK, after pulling a racetrack robbery, repeat offender Johnny Bannion hides the loot in a farmer&apos;s field but the police and the local mob come looking for Johnny and the money.

Joseph Losey

The Criminal

A neglected gem from Joseph Losey starring the excellent Stanley Baker

Stanley Baker&apos;s dodgy Irish accent strikes the only false note in Joseph Losey&apos;s hard-nosed crime drama. A lethal combination of charm, guile and brute force makes jailbird Johnny Bannion the top dog in B block. Once he&apos;s released, Bannion is plunged straight back into a world of free-flowing booze, casual sex and cool jazz in his well-appointed bachelor pad. But there&apos;s no thought of going straight as he plots a lucrative racetrack heist with the reptilian Carter (Sam Wanamaker). The intrigue here lies not in the heist itself but in the web of betrayals that follow, as Losey and screenwriter Alun Owen build an authentic portrait of the criminal underworld on both sides of the prison wall. There&apos;s no hint here of the cartoonish Swinging London and stereotypical cockney villains that continue to plague British cinema. Robert Krasker&apos;s photography lends a stark beauty to the pollarded trees in the prison courtyard and Johnny Dankworth&apos;s score, punctuated by a mournful Cleo Laine ballad, is superb. With its harsh, sweaty depiction of prison violence, this is a million miles from the upper-class shenanigans depicted in the director&apos;s later films like The Servant and The Go-Between.

After pulling a racetrack robbery, repeat offender Johnny Bannion hides the loot in a farmer&apos;s field but the police and the local mob come looking for Johnny and the money.

Trailer

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDczZjQ3OTUtZjc5ZC00NjQ1LTgwOWQtZGQzZWMzYWI5MTQ1XkEyXkFqcGdeQWRpZWdtb25n._V1_.jpg

Stanley Baker's dodgy Irish accent strikes the only false note in Joseph Losey's hard-nosed crime drama. A lethal combination of charm, guile and brute force makes jailbird Johnny Bannion the top dog in B block. Once he's released, Bannion is plunged straight back into a world of free-flowing booze, casual sex and cool jazz in his well-appointed bachelor pad. But there's no thought of going straight as he plots a lucrative racetrack heist with the reptilian Carter (Sam Wanamaker). The intrigue here lies not in the heist itself but in the web of betrayals that follow, as Losey and screenwriter Alun Owen build an authentic portrait of the criminal underworld on both sides of the prison wall. There's no hint here of the cartoonish Swinging London and stereotypical cockney villains that continue to plague British cinema. Robert Krasker's photography lends a stark beauty to the pollarded trees in the prison courtyard and Johnny Dankworth's score, punctuated by a mournful Cleo Laine ballad, is superb. With its harsh, sweaty depiction of prison violence, this is a million miles from the upper-class shenanigans depicted in the director's later films like The Servant and The Go-Between.

In the UK, after pulling a racetrack robbery, repeat offender Johnny Bannion hides the loot in a farmer's field but the police and the local mob come looking for Johnny and the money.

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