|
''The First Great Train Robbery'' – known in the U.S. as ''The Great Train Robbery'' – is a 1979 film directed by Michael Crichton, who also wrote the screenplay based on his novel ''The Great Train Robbery''. The film stars Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland, and Lesley-Anne Down. ==Plot== In 1854, Edward Pierce (Sean Connery), to all appearances a charismatic and well-established member of London's high society, is secretly an opportunistic and cynical master thief. He plans to steal a shipment of gold (sent monthly to finance the Crimean War) travelling from London to Folkestone. The bank has taken strict precautions, including locking the gold in two heavy Chubb safes, each of which has two locks, requiring a total of four keys to open them. When a test robbery (using a hired stooge to test the security measures) goes awry, Pierce recruits his old acquaintance Robert Agar (Donald Sutherland), a pickpocket and screwsman. Pierce's mistress Miriam (Lesley-Anne Down), a beautiful actress, and his driver Barlow (George Downing) join the plot, and the guard to the safe car, Burgess (Michael Elphick), is also bribed into participation. Pierce plans the robbery in exquisite detail, and procures information on the security measures and locations of the keys. The executives of the bank who store the gold and arrange its transport, Mr. Henry Fowler and Mr. Edgar Trent, each possess a key; the other two are locked in a cabinet at the offices of the South Eastern Railway at the London Bridge train station. The keys are not to be stolen, but wax impressions are to be made of them in order to hide the robbers' intentions. Pierce's first target is the key held by Edgar Trent (Alan Webb). Through painstaking surveillance, Pierce learns that Trent is keen on ratting (a blood sport involving betting on dogs killing rats) and succeeds in becoming acquainted with him. While visiting the Trent mansion, Pierce begins to court Elizabeth (Gabrielle Lloyd), Trent's plain, rather-overaged-for-marriage daughter, and learns from her that the key is hidden in the house's wine cellar. Pierce and Agar successfully break into Mr. Trent's home at night by employing the carriage fakement and make a wax impression of the key. Henry Fowler (Malcolm Terris) proves an easier target, due to his appetite for prostitutes. Pierce sets the reluctant, annoyed Miriam up as "Madame Lucienne," a high-class hooker in an exclusive bordello. Miriam meets Fowler in a suite and asks him to undress, during which process he must remove the key which he wears around his neck. While Fowler is distracted by Miriam, Agar secretly makes an impression of his key. Pierce simulates a police raid on the brothel before Miriam has to have sex with Fowler, which forces Fowler to then flee the scene of the 'raid' to avoid a scandal that would ruin him. To access the two keys at the train station, Pierce and Agar first stage a diversion using a street urchin (who is also, as Pierce informs Agar, Agar's illegitimate son) as a pickpocket. The attempt fails. Pierce decides to use the cat burglar Clean Willy (Wayne Sleep) to open the office doors from within, so that Agar can access the keys when the guard stationed outside the dispatcher's office at night goes to the restroom. Since Clean Willy is currently incarcerated at Newgate Prison, Pierce uses the alias "John Simms" to send a message through Willy's former mistress. Pierce then assists him in escaping from Newgate while the public is distracted by an execution. With Willy's help, the criminals succeed in taking wax impressions of the keys. As preparations for the robbery continue, the gang finds itself compromised: Clean Willy is arrested following a botched pickpocketing attempt and informs on Pierce. Willy attempts to lure Pierce into a trap under the pretense of asking him for more money, but the master cracksman easily eludes the coppers trying to catch him. Clean Willy also escapes from his captors but is murdered by Barlow on Pierce's orders before he can reveal his identity to the police. However, the authorities are now aware that a robbery of the Crimean gold is imminent. The police increase security by having the baggage car containing the two safes that hold the gold padlocked from the outside until the train arrives at its destination, and no passengers may travel in the guard's van. Further, any box or trunk large enough to hold a man must be opened and inspected before it is loaded on the train. Undeterred, Pierce devises a way to smuggle Agar into the baggage car inside a coffin. Pierce plans to get to the car across the passenger coach roofs while the train is under way, but he and Miriam (who is posing as Agar's bereaved sister) encounter Fowler, who has decided to ride the train to Folkestone in order to watch over the shipment. After arranging for Miriam to travel with Fowler in the same compartment in order to divert his attention, Pierce crosses the roof of the train and unlocks the baggage van's door from the outside. He and Agar replace the gold with lead bars and toss the bags of gold off the train at a pre-arranged point. Soot from the engine's smoke stains Pierce's clothes, however, and he is forced to borrow Agar's suit, which is much too small for him. The jacket splits across the back when he disembarks at Folkstone. The police quickly recognize him as a suspect and arrest him before he can rejoin his accomplices outside the station. Pierce is tried for the robbery. As he exits the courthouse, he receives the adulation of the poorer British masses, who consider him a folk hero for his daring act. In the midst of the hubbub, a disguised Miriam kisses him while slipping him a key to his handcuffs. Agar is also present, disguised as the Black Maria's driver. As Pierce is about to be shoved into the wagon, he frees himself and escapes in the Black Maria to the jubilation of the crowd and the chagrin of the police detectives who captured him. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The First Great Train Robbery」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|