Money Movers

source: Money Movers

Twisty plot that is hard to summarise without revealing spoilers - best to go into this with few expectations - basically a perfectly pitched crime thriller based around a private security firm - great performances, great dialogue and expertly judged touches of comedy - all served up with that grimy realism some of us love so much. A well observed workplace milieu makes it instantly relatable. I'd go so far as to call this the Australian Reservoir Dogs - but it's even better - since power of a diabolically inventive plot gives the film the narrative momentum of a falling guillotine blade!! This is what grown-ups call a good time.

The heist film can typically be relied upon to deliver the goods and MONEY MOVERS is no exception. It's a little-known, little-seen and underrated Australian thriller starring Jason Donovan's dad and it certainly delivers the goods when it comes to realism. It's a tight, low budget film that sticks entirely to the important plot ingredients and moves along at a fair old clip, so demanding the viewer's attention throughout. There's an air of gritty realism that reminded me of the old hardboiled pulp crime so beloved of America in the 1940s and the true-to-life characters are both engaging and commendably human. The film is also surprisingly violent throughout, building to a breathtaking climax that really doesn't disappoint.

First time i watched this move i was fifteen..., i found in money movers action, shootouts, angry people and violent scenes..., this movie concerns a guy called Jackson who works in a security company and wants to rob it..., he is helped by his brother(brown) and his friend, played by Ray Marshall; unfortunately for them, a local mafia gang discovers their intentions and wants to be in the mix..., the movie concerns some nowadays problems as violence, angry, unhappiness..., by the way i have to point the final scene, in which the violence level rises to the top: fist fights, chairs broken in a guys back..., there is a guy called geronimo who exhibits a crude brutality in his actions..., this actor, although secondary cast offers a high range performing..., only you have to see how he uses his gun and his fist..., if antibody knows something about him, send me a pd here in IMDb..., his name is rick hart i give it nine star from ten

In between wowing international audiences with 'The Getting of Wisdom' (1977) and 'Breaker Morant' (1980) Bruce Beresford shot this raw, extremely violent little crime drama with a high body count shot mainly in Adeleide. At the time it swiftly vanished without recovering even it's tiny budget, but deserves to be much better known. It has a much bloodier climax than 'Reservoir Dogs' and laced with that dry humour one associates with even the grimmest Australian movie; as when crime boss Bud Tingwell wearily tells a henchman to "bring in the nail clippers" when simple persuasion isn't working. (When I originally saw it I loved the music. So I should. It turned out to be the Adagio movement from Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.)

Before the late 1960s American film makers had to work in a tightly regulated system as to what they could portray on screen . The Motion Picture Production Code commonly known as " The Hayes Code " stopped film makers in America portraying sex and violence in cinema . It became more and more difficult to enforce as both cultural and social revolution was sweeping the world and with the coming of " The New Hollywood " in the late 1960s the production code was scrapped . This led to much more graphic films whilst retaining artistic imagination and perhaps no one personified this more than Sam Peckinpah the director of THE WILD BUNCH a film so radically different from other Westerns seen effectively destroyed the genre forever . It was round about the same time feminist social critics described war as " menstrual envy " and this theory of films geared towards men where the male protagonists graphically bleed to death gained credibility in metaphysical film criticism Regardless of your views of this provocative theory there's no doubt that MONEY MOVERS certainly ties in with line of thinking . Despite being an Australian movie Bruce Beresford seems to taken a blood soaked page out of the Peckinpah book of film making . Very few of the characters have morals or are in any way likable just like you'd get in a film by " Bloody Sam " . The violence is brutal and is summed up by the tagline : " The lucky ones only lost their toes " and this is a film that lives up to its tagline. The brutality is also far more matter of fact seen in a Tarantino or Scorsese picture It's a film that does play up to the Aussie stereotypes . Men drink beer all the time , are butch and believe that poetry is the sole preserve of " pooftas "but what makes this a memorable thriller is the heart stopping heist at the end with the type of graphic violence which is genuinely shocking . In some ways it's dated ( One of the gang wants to emigrate in Iran if the plan is successful !) and it's a film that is never shown on British TV but along with BREAKER MORANT another film directed by Beresford it's amongst the very best films to come out of Australia

This excellent Aussie crime flick centers on the workers at Darcy, a money courier service. Things get tense when an anonymous note arrives stating that their counting room - which sometimes houses as much as $20 million - is going to get hit soon and a cargo van is robbed the same day. This speeds up the plans of Darcy workers and brothers Eric (Terence Donovan) and Brian Jackson (Bryan Brown) as they have been planning to rob the place for 5 years. To make matters more complicated, Eric is senior security told to look into this matter and he tries to move the suspicion onto newcomer Leo Bassett (Tony Bonner), who has just gotten partnered with honest ex-cop and old timer Dick Martin (Ed Devereaux). To say any more would reveal too much. Where have you been all my life, MONEY MOVERS? I've never been a huge Bruce Beresford fan, knowing him mostly for BREAKER MORANT, DRIVING MISS DAISY and HER ALIBI (the latter two released the same year in a great example of cinematic diversity). So seeing this hard-hitting and violent crime flick from him was quite a shock. Not only is it quite different in subject, but this sucker moves thanks to some fantastic editing and a tight script (also by Beresford) with plenty of twists. Everyone in the cast is excellent with Devereaux being my favorite character as seemingly the world's last honest man. Definitely worth seeking out.

The opening credit sequences show an armoured van on Gladesville bridge in Sydney (not Sydney Harbour Bridge as an earlier review states), then at White Bay above the Rozelle freight yard with all its huge billboards, then Pyrmont Bridge (now a public walkway) very close to the heart of Sydney. The Cahill Expressway above Circular Quay Railway Station (which signage can clearly be seen) also appears in the opening minutes. However, the scene depicting the robbery of an armoured van by masked villains and the subsequent getaway was certainly shot in Adelaide. It is unclear why this film was made in two different cities 1200km apart. The basic story of an insider robbery of a counting house is fairly simple but the subplots get quite complex, and as someone indicated earlier it is sometimes hard to know who is double crossing whom. The director Beresford is obviously a student of film and appears to have gone to great lengths to give this film a tough "noir" edge. I think really he has over-compressed things a little too much. It is fairly short at barely 90 minutes and could have been fleshed out more in places. The final reel gets quite out of control, and its very difficult to discern which of the major players survive to the end of the film. To say the least, the film is extremely tough and violent, sort of like an Aussie cop show of the era with huge helpings of gore. I get the feeling from the "making of" that comes on the DVD, that Beresford might have played the final reel rather differently if he were remaking this film. Many of the lead actors here had achieved fame in Australian television. Ed Devereaux, Tony Bonner, Charles Tingwell, Lucky Grills, Candy Raymond and Frank Wilson were all well known to Australian audiences of the day. Alan Cassell plays a very similar smarmy character to that he later portrayed in The Club (1980). Candy Raymond was a stylish, attractive actress whose main drawback appears to have been a rather small bustline (the actress's own words in the accompanying interviews). It didn't stop her reprising her * scenes from Dons Party (1976) in this film. Nonetheless, I feel she is underutilised here. The funeral procession scene shot in central Sydney involving numerous Datsun 120Y's and equally numerous armoured vans (all of them white), shot with a very long lens, presents a striking scene, which may have been a nod to the famous motorcycle funeral procession in Stone (1974), made four years earlier in the very same city. I believe Money Movers is some sort of slightly flawed but unique piece of art, not really held in high esteem by its director these days, and certainly not perfect, and extremely hard to find, but well worth tracking down.

Money Movers really shows what can happen when greed and temptation come together. The money movers of the title handle millions of dollars each day in armored vans completely ready for an outside attack. But what happens when the danger comes from the inside? The answer is everything: Murder, double-cross of thieves, rival gangs, intrigue, suspicion, and the list goes on. This movie is packed with testosterone and has all the action you could ask for. Bruce Beresford directed who would latter come to America and did the Oscar winner Driving Miss Daisy. Based on the book of the same title by Devon Minchin this movie boasts one of the best robberies ever filmed – climaxing in the bloodiest, fastest, hottest shootouts ever put to film. This movie is hard to find in the US but if you come across a copy watch it!

You can almost smell the sweat and testosterone ! This is a movie for the blokes. It's full of tough blokes, violent blokes, bossy blokes, union blokes, angry blokes and blokes who tell the sheilas to go away and let the blokes get on with important blokey business. Hugely talented Australian cast with an equally talented director. This is what Aussie society was like before we all became middle-class and comfortable. Oh, the plot? Crooked blokes are practically lining up to rob an armoured-car security firm. The siege mentality builds as the story progresses, as the company tries to work out where the next hit is coming from. If I had to pick a fault, it was sometimes hard working out who was double-crossing who, some of the dialogue was up to "Law and Order" fast snappy talking standard, but it mostly all makes sense towards the end. Three stand-out treats - 1. Jeanie Drynan (the mum from Muriel's Wedding) looking very trim & terrific, not at all like the side of a house. 2. The Beaurepaires Tyre man playing a sadistic henchman. (He played a similar scary character in Mad Max). 3. Lucky Grils being excellent light relief as a "Bluey" character. It was also interesting seeing a young Bryan Brown (un-imaginatively cast as "Brian" !) playing against (later) type ie having a lack of confidence and really feeling the pressure, almost the opposite of his roles in "Cocktail" and "Risk". So crack open a beer, send the wife out of the room, turn up the volume and enjoy this under-rated Aussie movie.