Line #3 Film/TheCriminal


1	[[quoteright:311:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_criminal.jpg]]
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3	''The Criminal'' is a 1960 British drama film produced by Nat Cohen and directed by Creator/JosephLosey, starring Creator/StanleyBaker, Sam Wanamaker and Jill Bennett.
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5	Johnny Bannion is a legendary figure in a British prison who will soon be up for parole. His warder, the sadistic Barrows, tries his best to provoke Bannion into committing an indiscretion to keep him inside, which the arrival of stoolpigeon Kelly to his block hopes will be the catalyst. Bannion merely arranges for Kelly to get his punishment by other hands and keeps his hands clean for when he gets out. Once he does, he intends to pull off a heist on a racecourse, but underworld bigwigs get to hear of it and want their cut. Bannion buries the loot but is caught soon after and sent back inside, where he refuses to disclose the location of the loot, prepared to bide his time in prison before picking up his nest egg on release. However, his enemies kidnap his girl and use her as leverage to get him to want to escape and thus lead them to the loot.
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7	!!Tropes used in ''The Criminal'' include:
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9	* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: Johnny buries the suitcase full of money from the racecourse robbery in an empty field. This because the MacGuffin driving the action in the second half of the film.
10	* CacophonyCoverUp: The prisoners in Wing B create a deafening racket to cover up the sound of Clobber's assault of Kelly.
11	* CutHimselfShaving: After Kelly is thrashed from his ankles to his neck, Kelly tells the prison doctor that he fell down the stairs.
12	* DrivenToSuicide: When Pauly is caught with a SinisterShiv (which might have been planted on him), he snaps and throws himself off the gallery. This is the event that triggers the PrisonRiot.
13	* EverybodySmokes: The film is about working class British criminals, with half the action taking place in {{prison}}, so almost everyone smokes. The opening scene is of three convicts playing poker for cigarettes.
14	* GetawayDriver: Quantock is recruited as wheelman for the racetrack robbery. He is a cocky young bastard, but Bannion has to admit he does know how to handle a car.
15	* HandyCuffs: Johnny is shackled with his hands in front of him when he is being transported in the prison van (presumably because he was going to be seated for a long time). This allows him to overpower the warder when the van is forced off the road.
16	* IHaveYourWife: The gang initially kidnaps Suzanne because they think she knows where the money is hidden. When it turns out she doesn't, they instead hold her as a bargaining chip to force Johnny to lead them to the loot.
17	* JobTitle
18	* KilledOffscreen: Johnny is told when he returns to prison that Ted and Chas had sold their shares of the stolen loot to Highgate gang. He is also told young Quantock, the driver on the job, had refused to sell his and has been run over and killed.
19	* LikeIsLikeAComma: Clobber is an Australian thug unable to complete a simple sentence without using the word "like". His cellmate Pauly asks him if he can utter a sentence without saying "like" and Clobber fails miserably.
20	* LondonGangster: The Highgate Gang represent the new breed of London underworld who think they can they can muscle in on the score of an ordinary decent criminal like Johnny Bannion and demand a cut of the loot for merely allowing him to operate on their turf. Bannion does not take kindly to this.
21	* AMacGuffinFullOfMoney: Johnny buries the [[BriefcaseFullOfMoney suitcase full of cash]] he and his gang stole from the racetrack in an empty field. Various {{London Gangster}}s decide that they want that cash and are willing to go to any length to get, including busting Johnny out of prison.
22	* MarketBasedTitle: ''The Criminal'' was released in America as ''The Concrete Jungle''.
23	* MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll: Frank Saffrion is regarded as the king of Cellblock A. He is in touch with various criminal bigwigs on the outside and is able to obtain almost any kind of contraband--for a price. Late in the movie, he orchestrates a PrisonRiot, a transfer for Johnny, and for [[VulnerableConvoy the prison van to ambushed while it is on the road]].
24	* APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy: The drunken party thrown to celebrate Johnny's release. The first thing Johnny sees on enetering his flat is a couple making out on his couch.
25	* PistolWhipping : After [[VulnerableConvoy forcing the prison van off the road]], Ted whacks the driver over the head several times with his pistol to knock him out.
26	* PrettyInMink: Maggie is wearing a fur stole when she arrives at Johnny's release party and creates a scene.
27	* PrisonRiot: Saffrion arranges a prison riot as part of his plan to get Johnny transferred.
28	* SinisterShiv: Pauly is caught with with a shiv on him (possibly planted) during a shakedown by the warders. This is the event that triggers the PrisonRiot.
29	* TheStoolPigeon: The film opens with Kelly, a known snitch, returning to prison, and he is obviously terrified. His previous actions land him a brutal beating on his first night back.
30	* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Bannion has been working on a plan for robbing the racetrack for years while he has been in prison. However, the audience never finds out exactly what the plan is as we are never privy to his discussions with his gang. It is not even shown on screen, as Bannion, Ted and Chas enter the bookies office and the camera stays on Quantock in the getaway car. Whatever the plan is, it works, as the trio exit the office with the cash. It is only after TheHeist that things start to fall apart.
31	* VulnerableConvoy: The gang arranges for Johnny to be transferred to another prison, then intercepts the prison van and busts him out.
32	* WardensAreEvil: Barrows is a sadistic bastard who turns a blind eye to the majority of the wrongdoing in the prison so long as his record remains intact. He is complicit in the assault on Kelly by preventing the other warders to intervene.
33	* WaterWakeup: Clobber knocks Kelly unconscious, but then wakes him up by emptying a cup of water over his head so he will feel feel the rest of his beating.
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Context Film / TheCriminal