Rent The Good Die Young (1953)

3.4 of 5 from 72 ratings
1h 34min
Rent The Good Die Young Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
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Synopsis:
Miles Ravencourt (Laurence Harvey) is an amoral aristocrat who needs to pay off his gambling debt and plans to carry out the robbery of a mail van. So he enlists the help of 3 troubled men, all equally desperate for money: American ex-GI Joe (Richard Basehart) who hopes to use his share of the haul to bring his British wife to the US professional boxer Mike (Stanley Baker) who finds himself unable to work in his chosen profession when his hand is broken, while his life savings are stolen by his disreputable brother in law and American airman Eddie (John Ireland) has left his wife upon discovering that she is unfaithful.
Actors:
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Directors:
Producers:
John Woolf
Writers:
Vernon Harris, Lewis Gilbert, Richard Macaulay
Studio:
Wienerworld
Genres:
Classics, Drama, Thrillers
Collections:
Cinema Paradiso's 2022 Centenary Club, Getting to Know..., Heist Movies: A 20-Year Stretch, inema Paradiso's 2023 Centenary Club: Part 2, Introducing a British Film Family, A Brief History of Film...
BBFC:
Release Date:
06/09/2004
Run Time:
94 minutes
Languages:
English
Subtitles:
None
DVD Regions:
Region 0 (All)
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
Colour:
B & W
BBFC:
Release Date:
20/07/2020
Run Time:
98 minutes
Languages:
English LPCM Mono
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.66:1
Colour:
B & W
BLU-RAY Regions:
B
Bonus:
  • The Good Die Young (export version) (1953, 101 mins): made available here for the first time, this extended overseas-only version of the film contains anti-establishment sentiments considered too strong for British audiences of the day
  • When Giants Fought (1926, 31 mins): a contentious but historic boxing match of 1810 is vividly revisited in this power-packed silent drama, with a newly commissioned musical score by Mordecai Smyth
  • Midnight Taxi (1946, 17 mins): a London cabby uncovers the city's secret nightlife in this surprising plug for post-war National Savings
  • Under Night Streets (1958, 20 mins): after the last tube has gone, an army of underground workers get busy down below
  • Not Like Any Other Director: Lewis Gilbert (1995, 31 mins): Michael Caine introduces the director of 'The Good Die Young' in this excerpt from an onstage interview at London's National Film Theatre
  • Image Gallery

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Reviews (1) of The Good Die Young

Heist Noir. - The Good Die Young review by Steve

Spoiler Alert
29/05/2023

Stylish London noir which is elevated by an impressive mix of UK and US actors. It's a British version of a classic American genre, the heist film. But the first act, the coming together of the gang, is the main focus. The crime and the disintegration are quite exciting, and well staged by director Lewis Gilbert, but take up little screen time.

Three hard luck fall guys meet regularly in a pub to drown their sorrows. Stanley Baker is a washed up boxer who has lost his left hand and his savings. Richard Basehart is a demobbed GI with a kid on the way and no money in the bank. John Ireland is a soldier gone AWOL , whose sexy wife who is pure hot trouble. Yes, Gloria Grahame

Their latent criminality is activated by Laurence Harvey's psycho-aristocrat. And they hold up a security van. Stanley Baker gives the eye catching performance, primal and brooding. Harvey is nauseatingly over-ripe, but he's supposed to be a villain, so it sort of works. Gloria is the best of the WAGS, lifting some flat dialogue with her incomparable petulance.

Gilbert directs with great élan, though the suspense comes and goes. The film hints at political themes, but mostly concludes that life is unfair and people are users or losers. And as in classic noir, hope is a commodity hoarded elsewhere. It's not the equal of the great Hollywood heist films, but still a fascinating British variation.

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