Malcolm Fewtrell, 95, head of Buckinghamshire CID during the Great Train Robbery investigations
I used to watch a lot of crime films. But now I find them impossible. It’s all about sex, no one seems to do any work. Most of the detectives in films seem to come up with extraordinary things that hard work never seemed able to produce. Buster is my favourite film but only because I have a personal connection to it.
I always thought that criminals shouldn’t profit from their misdeeds, but they do today. Selling their stories, advising on films. The most horrific people in my time were the Kray twins. Murder was commonplace for them. They were right villains but today people are fascinated by them and make films inspired by them.
If film-makers really showed the true side of it all, people would be disappointed. Really, we just had to work hard, all of the time.
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Leonard “Nipper” Read, 85, the Scotland Yard detective who caught the Kray twins
It’s hard to reconcile the world today’s films show with the way we used to work. Everything has changed; they have so many more facilities, it makes us look like old plodders. My favourite film is Bullitt. Steve McQueen’s character is being set up and he’s fighting against corrupt authority figures, something that I had to do myself. People did not want to have the Krays investigated and I got very little assistance from senior people in the Yard.
I saw the 1990 Krays film. I thought it strayed too far from the truth. I don’t think it helped that Charlie Kray was their technical adviser. They weren’t nice people and I do find all the memorabilia and films quite frustrating really. People often suggest that the Krays were actually nice guys and that when they controlled the East End, they kept the streets of London clean. Well, that’s nonsense. They were wicked, murderous bastards.
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“Mad” Frankie Fraser, 82, notorious gangster and most dangerous man in Britain, according to two home secretaries
After 42 years in prison I haven’t watched as many films as people might think. My favourite would be Coppola’s The Godfather. Marlon Brando is superb. Of course I knew the Mafia, but that’s not why I enjoyed it. No crime films are really that accurate, due to concerns like libel. Most films today have a crime element — only way they’ll sell ‘em! I don ‘t think films encourage people to get into crime but if it did, my only advice would be don’t get caught.
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John Fassenfelt, 58, Youth Court magistrate on the Faversham and Sittingbourne Bench and chairman of the Youth Courts Committee
A favourite is LA Confidential. It shows the many aspects of life you see in a magistrates’ court, such as greed, corruption, stupidity and passion. It has a great ending with the shooting of Captain Dudley Smith (baddie) when he least expects it by Exley (good guy).
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As a magistrate you hope that right always wins but alas in real life that does not always happen, so films like this are a means of escape for me from the realities of court. Also, in a film, justice happens quickly, which is very satisfying; I can be in court for days.
I also enjoyed The Krays. As a magistrate we often get a glimpse of the family and their impact on the criminal, so I found it interesting to see it from the perspective of a famous criminal’s family.
I suppose some criminals have made a lot of money but I only ever see casualities — the broken families and the drug addicts, and that’s always unbearably sad. It’s nothing like in the films. Young people especially need to understand the consequences of their actions. However, would that be successful at the box office?
Stewart Tendler, 59, crime correspondent, The Times
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Unlike many policemen who say they avoid fictional crime like the plague, I enjoy crime films and thrillers. I can live with the inaccuracies but I dislike overblown violence. A good crime film has pace, good characterisation, unpredictability and realism. What it should not have is the sort of ham that Stephen Fry injected into the policeman he played in Gosford Park.
I don’t think I could pick out one single favourite. In some, such as the original Thomas Crown Affair, Point Blank and Bullitt, it’s a matter of style. In the more recent Heat it’s the power and drive — the bank heist is extraordinary (said to have been devised by an SAS veteran). But my Top Ten must include the first two of the Godfather Trilogy, On the Waterfront, Mean Streets, The French Connection, Fargo and The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
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Roy Ramm, 54, former head of organised crime at Scotland Yard, now security director for the casino group London Clubs
I have a love-hate reaction to crime films. Much depends on whether the film sets out to be an earthy, realistic film or pure cinematic fantasy — I much prefer the latter. I loved Sexy Beast, Thomas Crown Affair (both versions) and Ocean’s Twelve. Even sinister movies, such as Seven or Silence of the Lambs, are so far removed from reality that I can enjoy them as entertainment.
The closer the movie-maker tries to get to reality, the more flawed they seem and the less I like them. I know that they will seldom be realistic because the truth about most crime doesn’t make great cinema. The right formula is to be trivially accurate and fundamentally entertaining. My favourite film would have to be Dog Day Afternoon. There are inept robbers, inept cops. Appalling negotiators and some classy moments. Happy ending when the bad guys get shot! We used to show it to trainee negotiators as a “how not to” movie.
Andrew Oldham, 37, frontline patrol police officer, former special constable with Surrey Police
A good crime film is pacy, with good characteristation, and people you care about. The movie has to look good too. Road to Perdition makes good use of location — it’s always rainy and dark. It is also one of the rare movies that actually shows the consequences of crime, as the son comes to terms with what his father does. Bullitt is good too — a bit dated but very stylish. Love, Honour and Obey is another marvellous one. It glamorises crime completely; the whole thing’s set to karaoke!
However, there is a real fascination with criminal activity, and I think some people are negatively influenced by movies such as Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Layer Cake. People see the glamorous life of the criminal but no consequences. From most British crime films you get the impression that the police don’t exist. You can’t help but notice, in films like The Long Good Friday, the criminals blow up a pub and there’s no hint of the police showing up. But I suppose a film that did depict the job of the police would be really boring.
Bruce Reynolds, 73, Great Train Robber
I always loved cinema noir and Hitchcock’s early films. Seeing legendary figures such as John Robie, one-time cat burglar, strolling along the Riviera (in To Catch a Thief). When I first went to the South of France, I tried to emulate him. Of course it didn’t end up like in the film, with me in a lovely villa overlooking Cap d’Antibes. Cary Grant had such amazing style. When it first came out in 1955, myself and two friends went to see it and the next time we met we all turned up in exactly the same Robie-style clothes. Subsequently I found out that Kilgour French Stanbury, my tailor for years, was where Cary Grant got his suits. It gave me a real boost.
I don’t think that the Great Train Robbery has ever been done properly on screen. Buster tried to do something a bit different from the norm but every film is constrained by scriptwriters’ agendas and trying to make the most money possible. I always thought it could have been scripted by Ealing Studios. I was on the run with my wife and son, (Charlie) Wilson had his wife and three daughters, and (Jimmy) White had his wife, son and poodle Gigi! It was a really British crime. It’s not a scenario you’d see in an American movie these days; no one abandoned their wives for bimbos.
Dave Courtney, 47, ex-gangster, aka “the Yellow Pages of the underworld”
My favourite film would be The Long Good Friday. It’s as close a portrayal of the real thing as you’re going to get because of all the humour in it. If they are anything at all, naughty men are funny and the film is witty, while also being serious and dangerously real.
I like Lock, Stock . . . I auditioned for it my back garden but the backers wouldn’t let Guy Ritchie cast me. Vinnie Jones ended up playing my part, which was based on me anyway. He did an alright job but he’s been ever so rude since. Never contacted me or anything.
Really though, there’s never been a film that’s captured crime as it is and there never will be. It’s only ever glamorous on-screen; in real life it’s s***. I’ve just been offered $240,000 to play a bank robber in a new film, I never earned that much when I was robbing banks! When people watch crime films today they should realise that it’s the wrong era to be a criminal. You’re fighting computers, not out-smarting policemen. “Gangster” today should be a word like “pirate” or “knight in shining armour” — they are magical figures of a bygone era.
Jackie Moulton, 53, former detective chief inspector, TV producer and inspiration for Prime Suspect
Internal Affairs would be my favourite. I love psychological dramas, I don’t like violent crime films at all: they are too male, too tribal. Complex characters and plot are what engage me. I love being able to work out what’s about to happen. I can often be completely miles out though, and as a police officer you do think, if I got that wrong maybe I’m in the wrong job!
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