The League of Gentlemen

Retired colonel Hyde pulls together a cadre of eight discontented ex servicemen, each with a private burden and specialized skill honed in the service. Their target is a bank, and Hyde imposes military discipline while his uneasy second in command Race keeps a lid on the nerves of the crew. As the plan tightens, memories, debts and resentments simmer, testing the group's cohesion. The men bring not just expertise but a stubborn clinging to old loyalties, and the line between professional detachment and personal grievance blurs. What begins as a controlled operation soon reveals how civilian doubts can shadow even the best structured scheme. Each man hides a private score to settle, and Hyde's stern routines echo drill master drills at dawn. As the plan unfolds, nerves fray over missing funds, hidden debts, and the constant fear that one misstep will unravel everything.

Directed by Basil Dearden, the film arrived in 1960 from an original screenplay by Bryan Forbes and John Boland, turning a simple caper into a stylish British crime comedy with a sharp ensemble.

Box office figures for this title aren’t widely documented, and the movie’s impact isn’t measured by grosses alone. It remains a notable example of early British ensemble heist cinema.

The League of Gentlemen sits within Basil Dearden's run of smart, policy conscious thrillers that mix humor with crime, showcasing an eight man team that relies on discipline and timing. Its tension between military precision and civilian fragility hints at postwar anxieties about authority and loyalty. Its brisk pace and dry wit helped set a template for British ensemble heist stories.

Critics typically praised the tight plotting and brisk performances, noting how the film uses a caper setup to probe how loyalty, pride, and greed collide when former soldiers step outside their war-time roles. The result balances wit and tension.