Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

ThiefHott Too much of everything

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Martin Bradley Shot largely on location in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Sidney Hayers' "Payroll" is a remarkably good British heist movie dealing, not just with a robbery, but with dishonour amongst thieves. It's not quite "The Asphalt Jungle" or "Rififi" but it's an outstanding example of its kind with a first-rate script by George Baxt, excellent cinematography from Ernest Steward and sterling direction from Hayers. It's also got a great cast that includes Michael Craig, Tom Bell, Billie Whitelaw (superb), Kenneth Griffith and the French actress Francoise Prevost while the robbery itself is brilliantly handled, if only by the film-makers and not the robbers. Something of a small genre classic.

Spikeopath Payroll is directed by Sidney Hayers and adapted to screenplay by George Baxt from the novel written by Derek Bickerton. It stars Michael Craig, Françoise Prévost, Billie Whitelaw, William Lucas, Kenneth Griffith, Tom Bell and Barry Keegan. Music is by Reg Owen and cinematography by Ernest Steward. A vicious gang of crooks raid an armoured van carrying the wages of the local factory. When all doesn't go to plan and the driver of the van is killed, the gang start to come apart from within, just as the police and a vengeful widow close in on them... As tough as old boots! Out of Beaconsfield Studios, Payroll is the kind of British neo-noir that is adored by those that have seen it and yet it still remains a sleeper. Set up in the North East of England in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, there's a real sense of working class struggle pulsing through the picture. The character dynamics at work are nothing new in the history of the heist gone wrong movie, but the makers here insert two ladies into the equation and let them be prominent antagonists, and with some conviction as well. Time is afforded build up of characters, letting us into home lives and the planning of the crime, and then bam! It's the robbery and it pulls no punches. Story is not without violence, and murders are coldly executed, and as the band of thieves begin to crack, led by ice cold scumbag Johnny Mellors (Craig), director Hayers puts them into a world of grim alleyways, terrace houses, back street pubs, sweat stained garages, marshy bogs and an imposing dockside ripe for a denouement. The mood is firmly set at fatalistic realism, and as Hayers tightens the noose around the dwindling gang of thieves, and Reg Owen's jazzy score flits around the drama (love that ominous double bass), we are led to a wholly satisfactory conclusion. Cast are great, especially the wonderful Whitelaw, and Steward's photography is crisp and on the money. 8/10 Footnote: Some scenes were filmed in Rugby, Warwickshire, so it's not exclusively on location in Newcastle. And of course as any Geordie will tell you, there's a distinct lack of Geordie accents in the picture.

The_Void Payroll is a British crime flick based on a novel by Derek Bickerton, and it is the story of a heist and its effects on all the people involved. What surprised me most is the fact that the film is so obscure! How come so few people have seen this? It's suave, sophisticated and entertaining; and it also has a great director in Sidney Hayers. It's certainly a film in need of urgent rediscovery! The film differs from many other films in its class because it focuses on the planning of the crime, the crime itself and then the effects it has on many people involved with it. The main character is Johnny Mellors; a streetwise criminal who is planning to rob the payroll of a factory. However, his plans are thrown into disarray when the firm hires a new company to guard the payroll; complete with an armoured van. The crooks decide to proceed with the crime anyway, and put a meticulous plan together to snatch the loot. However, things don't go exactly according to plan which has repercussions for everyone involved.The plotting of this film is very good and director Sidney Hayers keeps it flowing well at all times by providing a constant stream of action. The characters presented are all interesting in their own right and the interactions between the various members of the gang are good. Things are kicked up a notch by the involvement of other parties too; as well as the central criminals, we also focus on their inside man, the police and the widow of a man killed during the robbery who is out for her own revenge. The style of the film is very sixties and feels very cool throughout, which is a big bonus to the film and gives it a real slick edge. Things remain entertaining throughout and things are left open enough to ensure that we never really know where it's going to go; by the time the ending comes, there's still several possible ways for it all to end and the ending itself is made up of many twists and turns. Again I have to reiterate my surprise at the obscurity of this film - it's certainly good enough to have a bigger following and I would certainly recommend it to anyone that considers themselves a fan of crime thrillers!

MARIO GAUCI I recall catching this as a kid on a now-defunct Sicilian TV channel; besides, my dad owns the paperback edition of the original Derek Bickerton novel (published in conjunction with the film's release). Clearly influenced by the seminal French noir RIFIFI (1955), this caper flick may not have the necessary qualities to attain equivalent classic status but it is proficiently handled nonetheless (in the recognizable style that characterized hard-hitting British cinema of the mid-1950s and beyond i.e. till the advent of the Swinging 60s). Of course, PAYROLL is highlighted by a heist sequence (meticulously planned in advance) – though, in complete contrast to the one seen in the Jules Dassin film, it is a brusque, messy and violent job! Typically, too, the gang is a very unstable outfit – Michael Craig is the brains (appropriately tough and rugged but perhaps too young to carry the requisite world-weariness of the role, he largely comes across as unsympathetic instead!), heavy-set Barry Keegan the brawn (thus the first to bite the dust), Tom Bell the hot-tempered member who even challenges Craig's leadership, Kenneth Griffith the mild-mannered nervous type who invariably sows the seeds of their downfall, and William Lucas as the obligatory 'inside man' (an exemplary employee who then snaps at the critical moment). Up to here, the plot is routine, that is to say, predictable; the film's coup, then, is in presenting two complex female figures: Francoise Prevost plays Lucas' ambitious (and obviously bored) foreign wife who flirts with Craig, strikes a bargain with him (when she realizes the nature of his association with her hubby), and whom she even tries to double-cross (though he has the last laugh); Billie Whitelaw actually starts off in the colorless role of housewife (of the payroll guard killed in the robbery) but who subsequently turns – believably – into dogged and resourceful avenger! For the record, though a police investigation into the crime is conducted, it reaps little to no results: the gang brings about its own doom through mistrust, greed and foolishness: Griffith and Bell perish in quicksand, while a dazed and exhausted Craig typically 'buys it' at the finishing line (the open sea) thanks to Whitelaw's vigilante tactics. PAYROLL, therefore, supplies the expected quota of action, thrills, hard-boiled dialogue and moody location shooting; all in all, it stands as director Hayers' most satisfying work after the splendid occult horror piece NIGHT OF THE EAGLE aka BURN, WITCH, BURN! (1962)…though I should also be re-acquainting myself presently with his rare adventure film THE TRAP (1966), whose memory has similarly been relegated thus far to a long-ago Sunday Matinée' childhood viewing on local TV.