# British movie from the 1960's - help identify. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589 "2010-09-21T22:48:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/1 "2010-09-21T22:48:04Z")
Guess you’ll need more information. The most distinguishing feature of this movie is the ending which takes place on a moving train. The police have finally tracked down the criminal and as a last desperate attempt to escape, he opens up a side door on the train. The police tell him “you don’t stand a chance jumping off of a moving train” and he replies "a lot better than my chances with the gallows Guv’nor"and jumps out the door. About a quarter of a second after he disappears, there appears another train travelling about 60 miles per hour in the _other_ direction and you know the criminal just might have had a better chance _with_ the gallows. And then spoken with 100% British reserve, one of the policemen looks at his watch and states “Hmmm the 8:17 to Lancashire is right on schedule” (with _schedule_ being spoken with the British pronunciation of course). So,I’d appreciate your help in identifying this film. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/2 "2010-09-21T23:33:03Z")
Shot in the dark, been twenty years and I have plenty of other reasons for not remembering, but this is tickling the corner of my brain where my few remnants of Nicolas Roeg’s [_Performance_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066214/) are stored. Possible? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/3 "2010-09-21T23:56:49Z")
**Larry Mudd** I went to the keywords for _Performance_ at the imdb: > **[Performance (1970) - Plot keywords - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066214/keywords/)** > > Performance: Directed by Donald Cammell, Nicolas Roeg. With James Fox, Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, Michèle Breton. A violent gangster seeks refuge from the mob in the Bohemian home of a former rock star. It lists over a hundred keywords for _Performance_ and so I searched the list for “_train_” and it wasn’t listed. I’d say from my description, that “_train_” would _have_ to be a keyword for the film I described. I appreciate your attempt at solving this though. ---
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/4 "2010-09-21T23:58:23Z")
it’s definitely not _Performance_, that’s not how that film ended. Was it color or b&w? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/5 "2010-09-22T01:15:49Z")
Why do you think this movie is from the 1960’s? What year did you see it? Did you see it in a movie theater or on TV or from a videocassette or from a DVD? Can you tell us anything else at all about the movie? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/6 "2010-09-22T02:02:01Z")
The villain in the film referred to “the gallows”, suggesting that it was probably made before the abolition of capital punishment, which took effect permanently for most crimes in England, Scotland and Wales in 1969. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/7 "2010-09-22T03:46:19Z")
I did not see this movie in a theater and saw it on late night TV in the mid 1970’s. Yes, that was back in the days when local television stations would broadcast movies in the early morning hours instead of Sham Wow infomercials. I’m pretty sure it was black and white. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/8 "2010-09-22T04:13:46Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > The villain in the film referred to “the gallows”, suggesting that it was probably made before the abolition of capital punishment, which took effect permanently for most crimes in England, Scotland and Wales in 1969. But you referred to “the gallows” in this very thread, so we must be in the 60s right now! Buy IBM! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/9 "2010-09-22T09:47:13Z")
There were only five executions in the U.K. between 1958 and 1964, and there were none after that: > **[Capital punishment in the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_Kingdom)** > > Capital punishment in the United Kingdom predates the formation of the UK, having been used within the British Isles from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and took place in 1964; capital punishment for murder was suspended in 1965 and finally abolished in 1969 (1973 in Northern Ireland). Although unused, the death penalty remained a legally defined punishment for certain offences such as treason until it was co... So this film sounds to me more like one set in the 1950’s than in the 1960’s. Why did you describe it as a 1960’s film, wolf\_meister? Was there anything specific in it that looked like it was filmed in the 1960’s? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/10 "2010-09-22T09:49:33Z")
Capital punishment in Britain actually stopped in 1964. Are you sure of the policeman’s line? Could it have been Lancaster, not Lancashire? ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/11 "2010-09-22T13:21:40Z")
My memory’s a bit vague, but it sounds like it might be the **Kenneth More** [39 Steps](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_39_Steps_%281959_film%29) from 1959. He escapes from a train stopped on the Forth Rail Bridge. (He had pulled the communication cord, iirc.) ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/12 "2010-09-22T17:23:35Z")
**Wendell Wagner** Well it literally has been about 35 years since I saw this and so I’d say it could have been a film from the 1950’s or 1960’s. **Quartz** I am not very sure of the policeman’s line and he could very well have said it was the"8:17 to Edinburgh". ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/13 "2010-09-23T02:02:58Z")
Was there anything in the film that would suggest the time period? Was any music that you could identify being played? Did they mention any current events? Did they mention any politicians of the time? The film sounds more 1940’s or 1950’s than 1960’s. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/14 "2010-09-23T11:43:39Z")
I misremembered some details, or remembered them from the wrong version! Is [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEDTYxX03ok) it? His escape from the train starts around 7.30 into the clip… ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-movie-from-the-1960s-help-identify/554589/15 "2010-09-23T17:04:33Z")
**Meurglys** Well thanks for tracking that down but no that’s not the film. The movie I’m referring to has a moving train departure that is quite fatal. Thanks for finding that though.