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Bellman and True
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Bellman and True
Bellman and True is a 1988 film based on the 1975 novel of the same name by Desmond Lowden. The film was written and directed by Richard Loncraine. It stars Bernard Hill, Derek Newark and Richard Hope.
The title comes from an old Cumberland song "D’ye ken John Peel", specifically the lyric:
Yes, I ken John Peel and Ruby too,
Ranter and Ringwood, Bellman and True.
From a find to a check, from a check to a view,
From a view to a death in the morning.
The title uses a pun in the term Bellman which in the film's case refers to a criminal who specialises in disabling intruder alarm systems.
Hiller (Hill) arrives at Paddington station in London with a boy (O'Brien) following a stay in Torquay. They do not realise they are being tailed by Gort (Bones) as they check into a nearby hotel. A few days later, the child is kidnapped by Gort and Hiller is also captured: both are taken to a derelict house where he encounters Salto (Hope). It transpires that Hiller is a computer programmer who Salto had bribed to obtain details of the security system at a bank near Heathrow Airport. Salto is angry because he asked for documents and Hiller only sent him a computer tape he cannot decipher. After disappointing Salto, Hiller went into hiding with the boy and lost his job. The boy is Hiller's wife's son. When he returns to his house, he discovers that the boy's mother has left him.
Hiller and The Boy are kept captive while Hiller is forced by threats of violence to decode the tape. When he succeeds, Salto has the information he needs to rob the bank. Salto obtains finance for the robbery and recruits The Guv’nor (Newark) to mastermind it. The Bellman (Howell) identifies that the bank alarm system is sophisticated and has anti-interference safeguards. Hiller explains how to beat them and is recruited as the new Bellman. The gang decide to act just before Christmas when the bank will hold more cash than usual.
On the night of the robbery, the gang intentionally trigger the alarm. The guards, finding nothing, assume the call is false whilst the gang actually use a small window of time to enter the bank, allowing The Peterman (Whybrow) to determine how to access the basement vault area. Knowing that after the fourth callout, the guards will remain in the bank with the alarm disabled until the following morning, the gang remain in the basement.
They use a thermic lance to cut through the vault door and steal £13 million. They then release tear gas to disorientate the guards and escape in a getaway car driven by The Wheelman (Dowdall). At a changeover point, they switch from the car to a van. On the journey to an unspecified location, they hear that the security guard dog handler has died. The Guv'nor is frightened that he has broken a criminal code of conduct that no one gets hurt and is afraid that the identity of the gang will be made known to the police. He changes his plans and the gang travel to the beach next to Dungeness Nuclear Power Station. Salto later arrives with the boy.
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Bellman and True
Bellman and True is a 1988 film based on the 1975 novel of the same name by Desmond Lowden. The film was written and directed by Richard Loncraine. It stars Bernard Hill, Derek Newark and Richard Hope.
The title comes from an old Cumberland song "D’ye ken John Peel", specifically the lyric:
Yes, I ken John Peel and Ruby too,
Ranter and Ringwood, Bellman and True.
From a find to a check, from a check to a view,
From a view to a death in the morning.
The title uses a pun in the term Bellman which in the film's case refers to a criminal who specialises in disabling intruder alarm systems.
Hiller (Hill) arrives at Paddington station in London with a boy (O'Brien) following a stay in Torquay. They do not realise they are being tailed by Gort (Bones) as they check into a nearby hotel. A few days later, the child is kidnapped by Gort and Hiller is also captured: both are taken to a derelict house where he encounters Salto (Hope). It transpires that Hiller is a computer programmer who Salto had bribed to obtain details of the security system at a bank near Heathrow Airport. Salto is angry because he asked for documents and Hiller only sent him a computer tape he cannot decipher. After disappointing Salto, Hiller went into hiding with the boy and lost his job. The boy is Hiller's wife's son. When he returns to his house, he discovers that the boy's mother has left him.
Hiller and The Boy are kept captive while Hiller is forced by threats of violence to decode the tape. When he succeeds, Salto has the information he needs to rob the bank. Salto obtains finance for the robbery and recruits The Guv’nor (Newark) to mastermind it. The Bellman (Howell) identifies that the bank alarm system is sophisticated and has anti-interference safeguards. Hiller explains how to beat them and is recruited as the new Bellman. The gang decide to act just before Christmas when the bank will hold more cash than usual.
On the night of the robbery, the gang intentionally trigger the alarm. The guards, finding nothing, assume the call is false whilst the gang actually use a small window of time to enter the bank, allowing The Peterman (Whybrow) to determine how to access the basement vault area. Knowing that after the fourth callout, the guards will remain in the bank with the alarm disabled until the following morning, the gang remain in the basement.
They use a thermic lance to cut through the vault door and steal £13 million. They then release tear gas to disorientate the guards and escape in a getaway car driven by The Wheelman (Dowdall). At a changeover point, they switch from the car to a van. On the journey to an unspecified location, they hear that the security guard dog handler has died. The Guv'nor is frightened that he has broken a criminal code of conduct that no one gets hurt and is afraid that the identity of the gang will be made known to the police. He changes his plans and the gang travel to the beach next to Dungeness Nuclear Power Station. Salto later arrives with the boy.