After a difficult safecracking job, with its disappointing haul of just 20,000 GB pounds, career thief Mike Daniels (Albert Finney) figures its time to put his Big Score, years-in-the-planning, into motion, the robbery of an international bank's seemingly impregnable safe-deposit vault in the heart of London. However, Mike will need to supplement his usual crew, including Gardner (Colin Blakely) and Harry (Alfred Lynch), with additional men, including a "straight man," a heretofore honest outsider with a background in architecture, needed to pinpoint the safe's precise location and entry point via London's centuries-old sewage system.

Meanwhile, American expatriate Stephen Booker (Martin Sheen) is blindsided by the sudden bankruptcy of his firm (his partner is played by James Grout, Chief Superintendent Strange on Inspector Morse). A high-priced architect deep in debt, he's too overqualified to find work. Bank manager Godfrey (Robert Morley) pressures Stephen to sell his house in order to reconcile his overdraft, while Stephen's wife, Dinah (Susannah York), pressures him for funds to start up her long-dreamed-of interior design business.

Mike, preying upon Stephen's growing desperation, offers him a one-seventh stake in the multi-million-pound heist and he reluctantly accepts. Hiring additional men via a dodgy boat dealer, Taylor (Jonathan Pryce), to supply equipment, the operation begins.

The overly familiar plot is offset partly by audience surrogate Sheen's role, a man far too honest to initially accept Mike's offer, but an endless series of fruitless job inquiries, uncomfortable meetings with Morley's banker, and his wife's expectations for his financial support of her business finally send him over the edge.

What makes Loophole intriguing if less believable is its approach to Finney's gentleman thief character, clearly the only reason Stephen agrees to join the heist. Mike is not your average London villain: immaculately groomed and stylishly dressed (though believably short of Cary Grant-David Niven debonair), he's forthright with Stephen about the job's potential benefits and risks, and Mike in turn clearly respects Stephen because he's so methodical, cautious, and realistic about taking part. Perhaps accidentally, the movie makes the case that the worlds of high-end architecture and big-time bank heists are virtually identical. For Mike planning a break-in isn't far removed from Stephen designing a new office building, and there's even a fair amount of crossover. When Stephen briefs Mike's crew about his plans for the job, his presentation, one suspects, is not unlike one he might give to one of his building clients.

Video & Audio

Presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, approximating its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, Loophole looks really good throughout, with excellent detail and strong color. One doubts many theatrical prints were ever struck. The 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio (mono) is likewise good. The disc is region A encoded.

Extra Features

Supplements consist of an audio commentary with director John Quested and moderator Adam Schartoff.

Parting Thoughts

Unmemorable aside from Albert Finney's excellent performance, Loophole is nonetheless very well crafted and definitely worth seeing. Recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV is the Kyoto-based film historian largely absent from reviewing these days while he restores a 200-year-old Japanese farmhouse.