The Bank Job true story is stranger than fiction, so it’s little surprise Lionsgate decided to adapt the bizarre events of the 1971 Baker Street Robbery into the equally-bombastic 2008 heist film. But is The Bank Job accurate? The answer, like the Baker Street Robbery itself, is complicated. In the movie, the robbery is masterminded by Martine Love, an ex-model who is in a romantic relationship with British Security Services Agent Tim Everett. Martine convinces a group to rob a bank containing a safe deposit box owned by black militant Michael X, which contents include compromising photographs of Princess Margaret. What ensues is a wild ride.
The Bank Job movie, directed by Roger Donaldson (Al Pacino’s The Recruit), explores the real-life Lloyds bank robbery of 1971 which took place on Baker Street in London. The value of the goods that were stolen during the heist is still unknown as the police only managed to retrieve a small sum. However, it is estimated the total amount stolen lies between £1.25 and £3 million. The true purpose of the Baker Street heist remains shrouded in mystery too, and this robbery still has many unanswered questions, even fifty years after it happened. Here is The Bank Job true story explained.
Part of the reason why The Bank Job, which stars Jason Statham (The Expendables), was made is the producers wanted to reveal to the public some seemingly never-before-known truths regarding the robbery. The Bank Job tells the events of the heist and its aftermath in a manner that is fictionalized in more ways than one, most notably regarding the character portrayed in the movie and how they compare to the real perpetrators. For instance, the individual who planned the Baker Street heist, Anthony Gavin, is not portrayed in the film. Instead, a fictional woman named Martine Love planned the heist and assembles the crew to carry it out.
Anthony Gavin was initially inspired to conduct the heist portrayed in the bank movie based on a true story when he read The Red-Headed League, a short story written in 1891 by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle about the famed detective Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson’s attempt to foil burglars. Gavin and his crew broke into the Lloyds bank by tunneling from a nearby store they rented and used gelignite — known as a blasting jelly — to open a way up into the bank from the ground, unlike in The Bank Job movie.
While inside, they communicated via walkie-talkie with a lookout who was stationed on the roof. Unfortunately, the walkie-talkie’s signal was picked up by Robert Rowlands, an amateur radio enthusiast, who called the police to make arrests. Initially, the police didn’t believe Robert which gave Gavin and the crew enough time to leave with the stolen goods. It didn’t take the police long to find some of the suspects but the money and gear were gone forever. Gavin’s motivations were definitely one thing that The Bank Job movie embellished for narrative effect, but there were other elements that detracted from The Bank Job true story.
