BUSTER
UK, 1988, 102 minutes, colour.
Phil Collins, Julie Walters, Larry Lamb, Sheila Hancock, Anthony Quayle.
Directed by David Green.
Buster is Buster Edwards, one of the Great Train Robbers of 1963. The robbery was the subject of several films including Robbery with Stanley Baker, directed by Peter Yates in 1968.
Phil Collins, the music composer and member of the band Genesis, portrays Edwards particularly well. He makes him a convincing character - a touch in the Bob Hoskins vein. (Collins also contributed the title song which received an Oscar nomination.) Julie Walters (Educating Rita, Prick Up Your Ears, She'll Be Wearing Pink Pyjamas) is very good as Edwards' fearful wife June. The supporting cast includes Sheila Hancock as June's mother.
There is a re-creation of the robbery early in the film - but the film doesn't characterise the robbers particularly clearly, focusing on Edwards and Bruce. Anthony Quayle appears as a politician - and the soundtrack indicates how the robbery was seen in the political climate of the early '60s, especially with the Profumo affair.
The film takes place in both London and Acapulco, where the robbers flee. It is a small piece of English life in the '60s - presenting the point of view of the robbers, the social situation. It also presents the aftermath of Edwards' imprisonment - with the touch of a roguish smile.
1.The impact of the film? Interesting? Entertaining? Biography? Memoir of a famous episode?
2.The atmosphere of 1963: London, England, the musical score, songs? Allusions to the Profumo affair, the Beatles, President Kennedy? The contrast with the beauty of the Mexican landscapes and Acapulco?
3.The film's perspective on the robbers and the robbery? How sympathetic?
4.The execution of the robbery, the reconstruction of the scene, the plans, the actual execution? The people involved? Police pursuit? Arrests?
5.The police and the parliamentarians? The atmosphere of 1963, the attempts to save the government? The plans for the heavy sentences for the robbers?
6.Buster as a type, petty robberies, his love for June, the presence of her mother? His child, June as pregnant, losing the child? Sense of family, robbing the baby store? Involvement in the robbery, his leadership? In the execution of the robbery, the hiding and the counting of the money, wanting to go home? How much blame that they were caught? Relationship with Bruce? Hiding out, the family having to move from home to home? To Mexico, enjoying the wealth, acting it up? Growing tensions, the scene in the hospital, his return home, the reuniting with June, the arrest?
7.The portrait of June, attractive, loving Buster, family, pregnancy? The local girl, never out of England? Relationship with her mother? Concern about the robberies? Loving her husband, moving from house to house, the tensions with the photos in the shop etc., helping the neighbours? Decision to go to Mexico, liking Mexico at first but wanting to be away, growing unhappiness, the wealth, the food, the shopping? The sick child, her concern at the hospital? Going back home? The reconciliation when Buster returned?
8.Bruce, the brains behind the robbery, his clever moves, influencing Buster, going to Mexico? Leading the high life with Fran? Their being at home in Acapulco, the contrast with Buster and June?
9.The portrait of June's mother, typical, her concern, narrow English perspective, not liking Buster? Supporting her daughter?
10.The contrast between England and Mexico? The cold and fogs of England, the high life and wealth of Mexico?
11.The postscript to the film: the information about Buster's sentence, his jail term? His getting out of jail, selling on the bridge, with June? The tongue-in-cheek and slightly roguish ending? Sympathy for Buster?
