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
Director
Joseph Losey
