Money Movers

Money Movers

DVD Cover
Directed by Bruce Beresford
Produced by Matt Carroll
Written by Bruce Beresford
Based on Novel by
Devon Minchin
Starring Terence Donovan
Tony Bonner
Ed Devereaux
Charles 'Bud' Tingwell
Candy Raymond
Jeanie Drynan
Bryan Brown
Lucky Grills
Cinematography Don McAlpine
Edited by William M. Anderson
Production
company
Distributed by Roadshow Entertainment
Release dates
 1978
Running time
 92 minutes
Country Australia
Language English
Budget A$536,861[1][2]
Box office A$330,000 (Australia)

Money Movers is a 1978 Australian crime action drama[3] film directed by Bruce Beresford. The film was based on the book Money Movers by Devon Minchin, founder of Metropolitan Security Services.[4] The story deals loosely with two real-life events, the 1970 Sydney Armoured Car Robbery where A$500,000 was stolen from a Mayne Nickless armoured van, and a 1970 incident where A$280,000 was stolen from Metropolitan Security Services' offices by bandits impersonating policemen.[5]

Money Movers is "one of the few films of the 1970s that deal with crime and police corruption as an entrenched state of being, and one of the earliest to embrace extremely violent action."[5]

Plot

An armoured payroll truck owned by Darcy's Security Services is robbed and the driver, ex-policeman Dick Martin, is removed from armoured cars and put onto night patrols. The robbers are double crossed by crime boss Jack Henderson whose henchman Dino kills all the robbers.

Lionel Darcy, head of the company, suspects a major robbery is being planned but is unaware that all the culprits are employed by the company. He asks former employee Mindel Seagers to look into newcomer to the firm, Leo Bassett. Jack Henderson discovers a robbery is being planned by Eric Jackson, a former speedway driver and a Senior Supervisor with Darcy's, and his brother Brian Jackson who also works as a guard for Darcy's as an armoured truck driver. When Eric Jackson breaks into Bassett's apartment, Henderson's men kidnap him and cut off the little toe on his left foot with a pair of bolt cutters in their attempt to force him to work for him.

Dick Martin and Leo Bassett foil the planned robbery.

Cast

Production

After making The Getting of Wisdom Bruce Bersford signed a contract with the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) to make two films in two years. He wanted to make a movie that was in complete contrast with his last movie, and had written a script called The Ferryman. However the SAFC did not want to make it and they offered him a number of other projects instead.[6] Beresford decided to adapt a novel by Devon Minchin, who founded Metropolitan Security Services in 1954. Beresford worked with MSS for two months doing research.[7]

Shooting took six weeks in February and March 1978. Although the film was based in Sydney, it was shot mostly in the studios of the SAFC and at various locations in Adelaide, notably the Rowley Park Speedway, with some scenes also filmed in Sydney.[7] This is seen with vehicles regularly jumping between South Australia's black on a white background license plates and the NSW version of black on yellow.

Although fake money was used in the film, where there was calls for large amounts of cash (approximately A$1 million was used), real armed guards from Metropolitan Security Services (MSS) were on hand.

Release

The film, when it was released in 1979, failed badly at the box office.[8] Beresford:

Nobody went to see it. I went on the opening night in Melbourne and there were three people there and me. I was sitting up the back wondering what time the session started and then the film came on. I thought, 'this is going to be a disaster'. And it was.[6]

20/20 Filmsight said the film is "often let down by stagy performances, uneven editing and a poor script", but is "worth checking out."[9]

Movie News said Money Movers "delivers an intriguing plot and hair-raising suspense with incredible pace and ferocity."[10]

Australian Screen said that "Money Movers was ahead of its time, and may have suffered because of that. The film opened early in 1979, and failed badly, but it was not alone – 1979 was the worst year for Australian films, in box-office terms, since the new wave of Australian cinema had begun."[5]

Box office

Money Movers grossed $330,000 at the box office in Australia,[11] which is equivalent to $1,290,300 in 2009 dollars.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Scott Murray, "Money Movers", Australian Film 1978-1992, Oxford Uni Press, p42
  2. ↑ "Production Report", Cinema Papers, Oct-Nov 1978 p136
  3. ↑ Australian movies
  4. ↑ Let's Start All Over Again, Senator Nick Minchin
  5. 1 2 3 Byrnes, Paul (nd). "Money Movers 1979". Australian Screen. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
  6. 1 2 Interview with Bruce Beresford, 15 May 1999 accessed 17 October 2012
  7. 1 2 David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p53
  8. ↑ Noir of the Week: Money Movers
  9. ↑ 20/20 Filmsight, Money Movers
  10. ↑ Umbrella Entertainment, Money Movers
  11. ↑ Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office

Further reading

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