Dennis (Hywel Bennett) and Hal (Roy Holder) are two young libertine crooks, inseparable, irreverent, boisterous, highly sexed and eager to acquire a quick fortune.
They plan to rob the bank next door to the funeral parlour where Dennis works. Hal’s mum, Mrs McLeavy (Jean Marlow), is about to die, and the poor woman is to be used in the bank raid.
Fay (Lee Remick) – the dead woman’s bright but immoral Irish nurse who also happens to be an insatiable nymphomaniac and a serial killer of elderly husbands – is equally interested in Mrs McLeavy’s death. She wants Mr McLeavy’s (Milo O’Shea) money and plans to marry and murder him.
Dennis and Hal rob the bank in the nude to avoid leaving any forensic evidence. But when they try to fit both the loot and Mrs McLeavy into the coffin, their plans start to go awry. Disturbed by the arrival of the undertaker (Aubrey Woods), Mrs McLeavy is bundled into the lavatory.
Leading the police investigation is Inspector Truscott of the Yard (Richard Attenborough channeling Peter Sellers). Although he is on to Dennis and Hal, where is the loot, and where is Mrs McLeavy?
While he and his men search the bank and the funeral parlour, Hal retrieves his mother from the lav and hides her in the back of his van. Meanwhile, Dennis is captured by Truscott but escapes, only to be caught by Fay, who supposes he is making one of his regular Wednesday night visits to her bedroom.
The plot becomes more and more confused until it is finally resolved in a unique, comical way.
Taken from the 1967 stage play by Joe Orton, the screenplay for the movie version of Loot was written by comedy stalwarts Ray Galton and Alan Simpson using much of Orton’s original dialogue.
Anthony Pratt’s sets are a deliciously vulgar collection of hideous knick-knacks and clashing colour schemes.
Inspector Truscott
Richard Attenborough Fay
Lee Remick Dennis
Hywel Bennett Mr McLeavy
Milo O’Shea Hal
Roy Holder Mr Bateman
Dick Emery Father O’Shaughnessy
Joe Lynch Meadows
John Cater Undertaker
Aubrey Woods WVA Leader
Enid Lowe Policewoman
Andonia Katsaros Bank Manager
Harold Innocent Vicar
Kevin Brennan Mrs McLeavy
Jean Marlow Doctor
Robert Raglan
Director
Silvio Narizzano
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