Rotten to the Core

Anton Rodgers - The Duke
Charlotte Rampling - Sara Capell
Eric Sykes - Hunt
Ian Bannen - Lt. Vine
Peter Vaughan - Sir Henry Capell
Thorley Walters - Chief Constable
Dudley Sutton - Jelly
Kenneth Griffith - Lenny
James Beckett - Scapa
Victor Maddern - Anxious O'Toole

The Boulting Brothers strayed rather a long way from previous comic glories in this threadbare comedy with hand-me-down gags and flimsy characters. Rotten to the Core saw their satirical knives less than their customary sharp. The concept hinges on an appeal by Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson to "restore the dynamic we have lost" through galvanising industry "by the use of science and technology into a new spirit of aggressiveness and enterprise". The Boultings have applied this ideology to the criminal activities of a gang of crooks and their enterprising young leader, Anton Rodgers, in a role seemingly made for Peter Sellers he shows versatility in four or five characterisations but it needed a comedy character actor to dominate the laughter sequences. Eric Sykes is largely wasted in the role of a private eye whilst Charlotte Rampling merely adds eye-candy to the film in her debut feature.

Jelly Knight (Dudley Sutton), Lenny the Dip (Kenneth Griffith) and Scapa Flood (James Beckett) are released from prison after completing their sentence for robbery. They immediately go in search of their one-time leader, The Duke (Anton Rodgers), who was supposed to safeguard their share of the loot. Upon release from jail, the trio are greeted at the prison gates by the Duke's slinky girlfriend Sara (Charlotte Rampling), she tells them that the Duke is dead, and their money is gone. However, it's not long before the gang discover that she's lying and that the Duke is masquerading as the head of a health spa, the Hope Springs Nature Clinic. The Duke has set his beady eye on hijacking a £1 million army payroll, and has assembled a gang of criminal cronies under the facade of running the health spa. Jelly, Lenny and Scapa decide to join the gang and become reeducated for their participation in the proposed scam

Sara assists the enterprise by seducing pompous Lieutenant Percy Vine (Ian Bannen), an officer from a nearby army camp, to elicit inside information useful to the gang. Meanwhile, Sara's wealthy father Sir Henry Capell (Peter Vaughan) hires incompetent private eye Hunt (Eric Sykes) to spy on his spoilt daughter when she refuses to return to Burnley with him. In the final sequence of the film, the Duke disguises himself as a British intelligence agent and persuades Vine to drive a tank into the bank where the military payroll is housed after the initial attempt fails. The police, however, await the Duke's renewed attempt on the payroll, and, as the tank drives into the bank, the floor collapses and chaos ensues. The Duke ultimately goes back to wearing false arms and pick pocketing… one victim being Sara as she returns to Burnley.