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Money Movers (1978)

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.