The 1962 Brazilian neo-noir Assault on the Pay Train is a hard-hitting true crime story, more focused on the criminals than on the crime.
This is an unconventional heist film that skips the usual elements of the genre. There’s no assembling the team, no planning the heist, no moving to and setting up the heist. Instead we arrive mid-heist, and the whole thing, including the getaway, is over during the opening titles.
The robbery is ruthless, well planned and successful. The robbers drive their fortune away from the crime scene in the boonies to their home base in the hillside slums (favelas) of Rio de Janeiro. When the six crew members split up the loot, they take an oath on pain of death, that no one will spend more than 10% of his share in the first year. This is extremely wise, because their community is so impoverished that anyone with an extra real will be noticed.
These guys are hard cases, and their formidable leader brooks no nonsense, so it seems like a sound plan. Because the haul was so massive and the robbery so well-planned and well-executed, the cops are misguided. They’re looking for an international gang, not a bunch of small-timers from the slums.
But, there are evident weak links in the crew – a drunk, a dimwit, and a hothead. One has a worthless, leeching brother. One has a volatile wife. One has country club tastes and likes canoodling with other men’s trophy wives. It doesn’t long before we’re thinking, Hmmmm…too many people know about this.
With its central theme of regular guys overreaching in an attempt to beat a system rigged against them, Assault on the Pay Train is certainly a neo-noir. But, in sunny Rio de Janeiro we don’t have the darkness and shadows that are the visual hallmarks of noir. Instead, the visual style of the film looks more like that of Italian social realism.
Indeed, Assault on the Pay Train is a time capsule of early 60s Rio de Janeiro, from the tony beaches to the warrens in the hilly favelas.
Tio, the crew leader, is played by non-actor Eliezer Gomes. Gomes had natural charisma,and went on to act in 18 more movies.
A lot of story is packed into the one hour, forty-two minute running time. Assault on the Pay Train was directed by Roberto Farias, his fourth film at age 30. Farias was still directing well into the 2000s.
Assault on the Pay Train is not streaming, but you can watch a bootleg on YouTube.
