# The Stick Up

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The Stick Up
| image          = The Stick Up 77.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = 
| director       = [Jeffrey Bloom](/source/Jeffrey_Bloom)
| producer       = George Pappas
| screenplay     = Jeffrey Bloom
| story          = 
| based_on       = 
| starring       = [David Soul](/source/David_Soul)<br />Pamela McMyler<br />[Johnnie Wade](/source/Johnnie_Wade)<br />[Michael Balfour](/source/Michael_Balfour_(actor))
| music          = [Michael J. Lewis](/source/Michael_J._Lewis_(composer))
| cinematography = [Michael Reed](/source/Michael_Reed_(cinematographer))
| editing        = [Peter Weatherley](/source/Peter_Weatherley)
| studio         = Backstage Productions
| distributor    = 
| released       = {{Film date|1977}}
| runtime        = 101 minutes
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       = English
| budget         = 
| gross          = 
}}'''''The Stick Up''''' is a 1977 British [romantic comedy](/source/romantic_comedy) [crime film](/source/crime_film) written and directed by [Jeffrey Bloom](/source/Jeffrey_Bloom) and starring [David Soul](/source/David_Soul).<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=The Stick Up |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150050308 |access-date=29 December 2025 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was executive produced by [Elliott Kastner](/source/Elliott_Kastner).<ref>{{Cite web | title=David Soul Fans {{!}} Biography | url=http://www.davidsoulfans.com/about-david-soul/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072201/http://www.davidsoulfans.com/about-david-soul/ | access-date=2024-12-15 | archive-date=2016-03-04}}</ref>

==Plot==
{{No plot|date=October 2015}}

== Cast ==
* [David Soul](/source/David_Soul) as Duke Turnbeau
* [Pamela McMyler](/source/Pamela_McMyler) as Rosie McCratchit
* [Johnnie Wade](/source/Johnnie_Wade) as Smiley 
* [Michael Balfour](/source/Michael_Balfour_(actor)) as Sam
* [Michael McStay](/source/Michael_McStay) as mechanic
* [Tony Melody](/source/Tony_Melody) as first policeman
* [Norman Jones](/source/Norman_Jones_(actor)) as second policeman
* [Mike Savage](/source/Mike_Savage_(actor)) as lorry driver
* [Gordon Gostelow](/source/Gordon_Gostelow) as farmer
* [Connie Vascott](/source/Connie_Vascott) as farmer's wife
* Leslie Hardy as farmer's child
* Julie May as prison matron
* [Nosher Powell](/source/Nosher_Powell) as manager
* [Alan Tilvern](/source/Alan_Tilvern) as Richie
* [Robert Longden](/source/Robert_Longden_(actor)) as second roadblock policeman

==Production==
It was one of the first films from financier [Arnon Milchan](/source/Arnon_Milchan) although he felt the film was so bad he had his name removed from the credits.<ref>''Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon - Arnon Milchan'' by [Meir Doron](/source/Meir_Doron) & Joseph Gelman</ref>

The film was known during production as '''''Mud'''''.<ref>{{cite web |date=30 December 2014 |title=Derek Tait : Plymouth local history: David Soul's appearance in Plymouth in 1977 |url=http://plymouthlocalhistory.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/david-souls-appearance-in-plymouth-in.html}}</ref>

==Reception==
''[Variety](/source/Variety_(magazine))'' wrote: "''The Stick Up'' is a slow to medium-paced meller about a Yank fortune seeker's misadventures in 1930s England. It combines the box-office appeal of TV's David Soul, herein star-billed, with a passable romantic comedy plot, written and directed by Jeffrey Bloom. Lush green England countryside where it was shot is impressively captured by [Michael Reed](/source/Michael_Reed_(cinematographer))'s camera&nbsp;... Lensed in the style of a ''[Bonnie Clyde](/source/Bonnie_and_Clyde_(film))'' or ''[Paper Moon](/source/Paper_Moon_(film))'', the opus relies heavily on the chemistry of Soul and Pamela McMyler.&nbsp;... Bloom's direction divides between Keystone Kops at one extreme and something much more sophisticated at the other. It resultantly succeeds well in neither and apart from its sometimes exceptional photography and an excellent score by [Michael J. Lewis](/source/Michael_J._Lewis_(composer)), it's bereft of distinction."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=24 May 1978 |title=The Stick Up |volume=291 |issue=3 |pages=31 |id={{ProQuest|1286018316}} |magazine=[Variety](/source/Variety_(magazine))}}</ref>

''[Screen International](/source/Screen_International)'' wrote: "This is an attempt to make a film set in the 1930s in the style of a movie of the period. But there's more to period pastiche than the right clothes, a few topical references to the Jubilee, and verifiable facts about money. The mood of the film is too heavy for a lighthearted romantic comedy adventure. David Soul and Pamela McMyler snap and snarl at each other with the humourless aggro of today; the spirited cut and thrust of a [Clark Gable](/source/Clark_Gable) and [Carole Lombard](/source/Carole_Lombard) evades them. There's precious little fun or neighbourliness in this fictional England of 1935; even the comedy cops are meanly corrupt. As for the story, it stumbles from incident to incident like a drunk in wellies who insists on telling you the story of his life in boring detail."<ref>{{Cite journal|date=27 May 1978|title=The Stick Up|id={{ProQuest|1040583515}}|magazine=[Screen International](/source/Screen_International)|volume=|issue=140|pages=18. }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0076762}}

{{Jeffrey Bloom}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stick Up, The}}
Category:1977 films
Category:1977 romantic comedy films
Category:1970s crime comedy films
Category:British romantic comedy films
Category:British crime comedy films
Category:Films set in 1935
Category:1977 English-language films
Category:Films directed by Jeffrey Bloom
Category:1977 British films
Category:Romantic crime films
Category:Films scored by Michael J. Lewis (composer)
Category:English-language crime comedy films
Category:English-language romantic comedy films

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Stick Up](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stick_Up) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stick_Up?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.