In 1971 there was a bank robbery in London. To this day the crime has never been solved. The reason that it has not been solved is tied to MI-5, the British government, and the royal family. That's right, it goes all the way to the top.
For a scant few days after the heist, the robbery was front page news, but as quickly as it appeared it disappeared. The cause for the disappearance was a D-notice (or gag order) issued by MI-5. And so it went; the daring heist went largely uninvestigated with many of those involved kept silent, never to speak of the case again. Now, along come writers Dick Clement and Ian La Franais with their script that looks to fill in the gaps of what is known. Is it fact or fiction? Well, it is probably a little bit of both, although what is presented seems to be a logical representation of a likely series of events.
The film opens with a naked frolic along the beaches of Jamaica, followed by a three-person frolic in a bedroom by the sea. It just so happens that there is someone outside the window, taking pictures of the compromising interactions. It is soon revealed that Princess Margaret was a subject of said photographs, the release of which would set off a firestorm of controversy, which the government did not want to have anything to do with. So, in an effort to reclaim the scandalous photographs, Martine Love (Saffron Burrows) is recruited, following a drug bust, for her criminal contacts.
At the top of Martine's list is her flame that never was, Terry Leather (Jason Statham). Terry is a dodgy fellow who runs a used car dealership, and is a loving husband and doting father. However, he is also in debt to a local loan shark, so the promise of an easy heist is too easy to pass up. Terry gets together some of his old associates and they plan the robbery, without even knowing what they are getting into. Martine is keeping the real goal of the robbery a secret.
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