payroll (1961)

aka I Promised to Pay.
"your payroll is as safe with us as it is in the bank."
A gang headed by Johnny (Michael Craig), plan and execute an armed robbery on an armoured car. From the off there are cracks between them, cracks that splinter when their carefully laid plans go wrong. They manage to make off with the loot, but only at the expense of two dead, one of the gang and the van driver. From then on they not only have to keep ahead of the police, but also have to contend with the driver's wife (Billie Whitelaw), who is after revenge.
A wonderfully gritty British crime caper, with a suitable big band soundtrack. It plays along with the standard crime film formula's, (right down to the use of a Jaguar as the getaway car), but uses them to good effect. The initial exhilaration of the robbery, gives way to viciousness and brutality, then nerve jingling tension as the gang quickly fall apart. Add some great performances especially from Whitelaw, Craig and Tom Bell (as a hot headed gang member), and a playful script, and you have an entertaining crime caper that will more than fill that 90 minute gap in your life.