June 24 movie: Too Many Crooks. Wasn't I just complaining about misogynist old movies? Too Many Crooks was the perfect antidote. A bumbling crime gang lead by George Cole keeps trying to steal from Terry-Thomas, a pennypinching womanizer who keeps all his money in a safe to hide it from the British taxmen.
The crooks try to kidnap Terry-Thomas's daughter for ransom, but they accidently kidnap his wife (Brenda de Banzie) instead. Terry-Thomas, being pond scum, laughs in the crooks' faces, tells them he's well rid of the old ball and chain, and encourages them to kill her.
When the wife finds out about this, she spends about five minutes crying her eyes out, then beats up the gang (using mad skillz she learned in the military during the war), declares revenge on her husband and leads the gang on the first successful crime spree of their careers.
I found Too Many Crooks utterly hilarious. The funniest scene comes late in the movie, when Terry-Thomas faces an exasperated magistrate for a series of charges, and offers increasingly ridiculous explanations for each.
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