One of six films Stanley Baker would do with another Hollywood blacklistee, Joseph Losey, The Criminal combines heist, prison and gangster film tropes with an arthouse texture and feel.
Baker’s character, Johnny Bannion, is a tough criminal under pressure from former associates to reveal where he hid the proceeds from a racetrack robbery.
Modelled on real-life Soho villain Alfred Dimer (who advised Losey during filming), Bannion represents the new school of British cinema criminal: aware how repellent his milieu is, ruthless and violent in his dealings with other gangsters, and tender towards his sophisticated girlfriend (Margit Saad).
Johnny Bannion
Stanley Baker Suzanne
Margit Saad Mike Carter
Sam Wanamaker Frank Saffron
Grégoire Aslan Chief Warder Barrows
Patrick Magee Maggie
Jill Bennett Pauly Larkin
Brian Phelan Clobber
Kenneth J. Warren Scout
Jack Rodney Snipe
John Molloy Formby
John Van Eyssen Sol
Patrick Wymark Antlers
Murray Melvin Judas
Robert Adams Kelly
Kenneth Cope Alfredo Fanucci
Paul Stassino O’Hara
Neil McCarthy Flynn
Tom Bell Governor
Noel Willman Prison doctor
Redmond Phillips Mr Edwards
Rupert Davies Ted
Nigel Green Quantock
Tom Gerard Chas
Larry Taylor Mr Able
Charles Lamb Angela
Dorothy Bromiley Inspector Town
Laurence Naismith Warder Brown
Jerold Wells
