Donald Sutherland's Best Performance Came in a Sean Connery Crime Caper (2024)

The late Donald Sutherland was a true actor's actor, in that he looked for good roles rather than starring ones. While he headlined his share of movies -- good and bad -- he never shied away from ensemble pieces, or even walk-off cameos if they piqued his interest. His scene-stealing pyromaniac in Backdraft is an excellent example, as is his out-to-lunch professor in National Lampoon's Animal House. Some of his best performances came out of such roles, and even when the film wasn't brilliant, he would make it better with his presence.

Michael Crichton's The Great Train Robbery is a terrific film, from a book by the author himself about a real-world 19th Century heist. It's primarily a vehicle for Sean Connery, who was enjoying a brilliant string of successes after his departure from the James Bond franchise. Crichton crafts the rather dull historical circ*mstances into a funny and energetic caper film. While Connery remains center stage, it's Sutherland who helps give it all a soul. He's most decidedly the junior partner, and yet he manages to steal the show anyway. It helps turn The Great Train Robbery into one of the most underrated gems on his impressive resume.

The Great Train Robbery Is Based on Historical Fact

The incident on which the movie is based took place in May 1855, during the Crimean War which pitted England, France and the Ottoman Empire against Russia. The cause involved rights for various Christian minorities in Ottoman-controlled Palestine, and had been resolved before the European powers decided to go to war over it anyway. Casualties were grievous, with over 100,000 dead in totem by the time the war came to an end. Great Britain paid its soldiers in gold, which was shipped once a month by train from London to the coast. In earlier eras, robbers would have stopped a coach or a convoy, but with the Age of Rail well underway, no one believed a train could be held up the same way.

The two architects of the robbery were William Pierce -- a railroad employee whose penchant for gambling cost him his job -- and Edward Agar, a career criminal with a specialty in safecracking. They assembled a small group of disgruntled railway employees, along with Agar's romantic partner Fanny Kay, and spent a year planning the scheme. Preparations included making wax molds of the four keys used to open the safes that carried the gold. They planted traveling bags full of lead shot in the baggage compartment, and Agar hid there until the train departed the station. He, Pierce, and another robber then opened the safes and removed the gold, replacing it with the lead shot so that no one would notice the change in weight.

When that was done, they simply went to the first-class car and waited until the train reached Dover, then removed their bags now full of gold. All told, they got away with about 12,000 pounds sterling, which would be worth about 1.6 million in today. The crew was caught several months later, when Agar was arrested on an unrelated charge, and informed on Pierce after the latter withheld his share of the take from Fanny. Pierce served two years hard labor for the crime, while Agar and several of their associates were transported to Australia, which the British used as a penal colony at the time. Crichton found the story fascinating, and delved into it with his trademark thoroughness.

It allowed him to examine things like 19th Century class differences, underworld culture, and early attempts at sociology, which the incident debunked. For instance, it was widely believed at the time that crime was purely based on poverty, and that people stole because they were desperate. If poverty could be alleviated, crimes like theft would diminish too. The robbery of the Crimean gold came from people who were reasonably well-off and well-educated, and who just (to quote the film) "wanted the money" by flying straight in the face of conventional wisdom. Crichton amalgamated several characters and added a good deal of dramatic embellishment to the novel, but stayed fastidiously accurate to the historical details. It spent 22 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, which prompted a movie adaptation in short order.

The Great Train Robbery Re-Imagines History as a Caper

Michael Crichton wrote and directed the film, making a number of changes to improve the entertainment value. Connery plays Pierce, re-imagined here as a criminal mastermind passing himself off as a wealthy businessman. He recruits Sutherland's Agar as his primary partner, along with his lover Miriam played by Lesley-Anne Down. The scheme requires them first to make copies of the four keys to the safe -- requiring a pair of dicey break-ins and a deliberately curtailed seduction -- followed by a lengthy casing of the train itself. Crichton prepares plenty of curveballs along the way, topped by a last-minute lock that forces Pierce to run along the top of the train itself before being lowered along the side on a rope to open the car.

Connery performed the stunt himself atop a real train, and the scene is still stunning in an era of CGI. While Miriam makes sparks with Pierce, however, and the police diligently follow the clues pointing to him, his real foil is Agar, who proves a loyal partner despite the pair's mutually acknowledged lack of trust. Pierce's origins are a mystery, but he's comfortable amid the aristocracy and successful at passing himself off as one of them. Agar is an open criminal, proud of his safecracking skills and fiercely defending his reputation as the best in the business. It allows Pierce to manipulate him, just as he does everyone else in the film, but the lure of the gold keeps him on the path until they successfully complete the heist.

Their banter allows The Great Train Robbery to lay out the particulars of the scheme in an easy, organic fashion. Agar is ever the doubter, always insisting that the task at hand cannot be completed just before Pierce pulls a rabbit out of his hat. His resentment boils over more than once, but he ultimately goes along with it, as much to see if they can get away with it as the promised reward at the end. Not only does it allow the film's various twists and turns to breathe, but it gives Connery a proper sounding board to reveal his character's thoughts. Their partnership is unequal by design, but without Agar, and Sutherland, he'd be operating in a near vacuum.

Donald Sutherland's Performance Anchors The Great Train Robbery

The aristocracy is the film's primary target, with Pierce and Agar arrayed against a variety of rich individuals chuckling over their brandy about how clever they are. The theft becomes an act of rebellion against that system, and The Great Train Robbery takes pains to reveal the brutality and desperation of the lower class. Pierce is a chameleon, changing his demeanor to move effortlessly through the social castes. Agar owns his hardscrabble upbringing and takes pride in his ability to take what his so-called betters callously horde.

That depends on Sutherland, whose rough honesty and open attitude form a necessary contrast to Pierce's duplicity. He's ultimately a henchman, despite his ostensible partnership with the scheme's ringleader, and yet it's clear how important he is to the scheme's success. While Connery seduces the audience along with the other characters, Sutherland becomes the more reliable presence. It gives the audience someone to connect with when the central protagonist goes down a villainous route, and helps make The Great Train Robbery the fun-filled lark it's supposed to be.

The real robbery was far less romantic, of course. The gold was intended for soldiers dying in the Crimea, which is who they were really stealing from, and the historical figures on which the characters are based were self-serving opportunists rather than dashing outsiders. Connery's performance makes that clear when his charm vanishes to reveal pure sociopathy underneath. Sutherland is more agreeable in his misanthropy and more honest in his motives, which makes a vital counterbalance. The most important character isn't always the lead. It's Connery's show, but without Sutherland, none of it would have worked.

The Great Train Robbery is currently streaming on MGM+

The Great Train Robbery (1978)

PG

Adventure

Crime

Drama

Director

Michael Crichton

Release Date

December 14, 1978

Cast

Sean Connery , Donald Sutherland , Lesley-Anne Down , Alan Webb , Malcom Terris , Robert Lang , Michael Elphick

Writers

Michael Crichton

Runtime

110 minutes

Main Genre

Adventure

Cinematographer

Geoffrey Unsworth

Producer

John Foreman

Production Company

Dino De Laurentiis Company, Starling Films

Sfx Supervisor

Gerry Johnston