Surprisingly good big screen production of a South African true crime story involving the youngest police captain in Johannesburg's history and his life of crime.
This is a different but gritty look at an apartheid story about André Stander who remains one of South Africa's most infamous bank robbers. He is most famous for the audacity of his crimes, robbing banks on his lunch break and sometimes comings back to the scene of the crime as the investigating officer.
Some of the facts were changed in the retelling of Stander's life of crime, but for the most part all of the tough details are depicted covering a brief time right before his first bank robbery thru until his violent end.
If interested there is a wonderful podcast called Evidence Locker that does a nice job going through all of the real-life details called 73. The Stander Gang South Africa, and you can find transcripts on line.
I appreciated this portrayal and thought the action and acting was well done. The overall story was good enough to peek my interest into reading more about the real life André Stander. The brashness of the crimes and also some of the cleverness really made this a worthwhile watch. The two time wife, Bekkie Stander, was portrayed by Deborah Kara Unger, who was absolutely gorgeous and a bit aloof. As I understand it the real life relationship Stander had with Bekkie was pretty volatile.
Interestingly I only saw two actual South Africans amongst the main cast, it would have been nice to see some more...it may have helped with the accents.
Stander robbed some thirty banks while he was a police captain before he was caught by his friend and colleague Cor. Then he was sent to prison where he and another inmate eventually escaped and then came back to break a third prisoner out within two months. The three of them robbed even more banks getting dubbed The Stander Gang in the media where they became kind of folk heros in this volatile apartheid times when the population was getting behind the concept of "sticking it to the man". They were so brazen and fast that they could rob four banks in a single day. Eventually this came to an end for one in Johannesburg, for one Fort Lauderdale Florida and for one England.
This is a recommendation from me, especially since true crime seems to be so popular at the moment. This was an atypical story that was well portrayed.
This is a different but gritty look at an apartheid story about André Stander who remains one of South Africa's most infamous bank robbers. He is most famous for the audacity of his crimes, robbing banks on his lunch break and sometimes comings back to the scene of the crime as the investigating officer.
Some of the facts were changed in the retelling of Stander's life of crime, but for the most part all of the tough details are depicted covering a brief time right before his first bank robbery thru until his violent end.
If interested there is a wonderful podcast called Evidence Locker that does a nice job going through all of the real-life details called 73. The Stander Gang South Africa, and you can find transcripts on line.
I appreciated this portrayal and thought the action and acting was well done. The overall story was good enough to peek my interest into reading more about the real life André Stander. The brashness of the crimes and also some of the cleverness really made this a worthwhile watch. The two time wife, Bekkie Stander, was portrayed by Deborah Kara Unger, who was absolutely gorgeous and a bit aloof. As I understand it the real life relationship Stander had with Bekkie was pretty volatile.
Interestingly I only saw two actual South Africans amongst the main cast, it would have been nice to see some more...it may have helped with the accents.
Stander robbed some thirty banks while he was a police captain before he was caught by his friend and colleague Cor. Then he was sent to prison where he and another inmate eventually escaped and then came back to break a third prisoner out within two months. The three of them robbed even more banks getting dubbed The Stander Gang in the media where they became kind of folk heros in this volatile apartheid times when the population was getting behind the concept of "sticking it to the man". They were so brazen and fast that they could rob four banks in a single day. Eventually this came to an end for one in Johannesburg, for one Fort Lauderdale Florida and for one England.
This is a recommendation from me, especially since true crime seems to be so popular at the moment. This was an atypical story that was well portrayed.