Tom jane stars as andre stander, a reallife police officer in south africa who in the mid1970s broke rank from his peers and became the countrys most notorious bank robber. The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son. Stander had fled to the usa after mccall was shot dead by police during a raid of one of the apartments in johannesburg, where he was hiding. The title stander refers to andre stander thomas jane, an ambitious secondgeneration policeman whose strategies and experience make him the perfect candidate for commander. Andre stander, the mastermind and driving force behind the stander gang, was the son of majorgeneral frans stander. In august 1983, stander and mccall, with several other prisoners, were scheduled to meet with a physiotherapist. Curly and the others only want to learn where krozac hid his money before going to jail.
Mar 23, 2020 an innocent bystander was shot in brooklyn in what police believe may be a gangrelated attack, police sources said monday. Disenfranchised by the injustice he saw in the system that he enforced for years, he formed the stander gang and became a hero for the people. The movie begins and ends with ironically contrasted car chases that turn on stander s reckless disregard for his own safety as both cop. Stander and mccall returned to zonderwater on 31 october 1983, in order to spring allan heyl from the facility where he was taking a trade test. The stander gang or hopper gang for their technique of hopping from bank to bank found themselves on newspaper front pages day after day. As a police detective, and later a bankrobber, he was sometimes described as brilliant although he was a less thanaverage student at school. Stander s keenest challenges, however, are directed at action movie conventions, and more generally, the construction of pop cultural heroes. The life and career of andre stander, a south african police officer turned bank robber.
However, his old assistant, curly lionel stander, persuades him to take charge of his old gang first. Finally, the stander script is here for all you quotes spouting fans of the thomas jane movie about andre stander. Stander internet movie firearms database guns in movies. The cause of heyls death is unknown at the time of. Stander kirkham was arrested in the 1970s, yet escaped prison with two others to form a gang in the 80s. Innocent bystander hit by stray bullet in brooklyn gang shooting. Now most of you have probably not heard of this movie and the studio can be thanked for that. Journalists paul moorcraft and mike cohen produced stander. It is surreal, to be sharing peanut butter cookies with one of the most memorable bank robbers in sas history. The south african press spilt a lot of ink over stander while he was alive but there have been few postmortem accounts. In the early 1980s, a white police officer andres stander, played by thomas jane in johannesburg suffers a crisis of conscience due to his involvement in apartheid and becomes a notorious bank robber on the run.
Brigadier manie van rensburg was put in charge of a special task force to stop them. On the set with the gang that couldnt shoot straight. February 8, 2005 a south african police officer turns weekend bank robber in response to the violence of apartheid. That was the sentence handed down to allan heyl in 1977. By the time andre stander, expolice captain and convicted bank robber, arrived at the prison, heyl was well advanced with his plan to escape. The stander gang was wellknown for their daring and reckless bank robberies in their homeland of south africa. Andre stander is a young, white policeman enjoying the comforts of middleclass married life in late1970s south africa, a country riven by apartheid. Aug 09, 2004 stander is a nifty little heist film featuring thomas jane deep blue sea, the upcoming punisher as captain andre stander, who performed a series of daylight bank robberies in the early 1980s sometimes hitting several within hours of each other while still in the employ of the south african police service. But heres the intriguing part he was also a police officer. Stander and his friends, van rensburg told the press, were on borrowed time. Standers fake horseshoe moustache, caught on a security camera, became a real life fashion in johannesburg. This guy is just too complicated to grant viewers the. The film stars tom jane the punisher, deep blue sea as the title character with dexter fletcher band of brothers and lock, stock and two smoking barrels and david patrick ohara braveheart rounding out the rest of the stander gang.
Their story is one of daring prison escapes, dramatic bank robberies and inevitably violent death. In winter of 1984, he is sent to jerusalem to assassinate a senior british officer. Stander took a yellow porsche targa for a test drive at a dealership and left the salesman gawping as the porsche sped into the distance. Aug 06, 2004 in its first halfhour, stander, which tells the true story of andre stander tom jane, the johannesburg police chief who in 1976 turned against an apartheid system he found repugnant, and. Chris steynbarlow her married name wrote publish and be damned. Everything you need to know about stander movie 2004. Last surviving member of the infamous stander gang of bank. Heyl fled to europe and was later caught in england. George allan heyl died april 17, 2020 was a south african criminal, member of the stander gang heyl met his accomplices andre stander and lee mccall in 1977, while they were in prison together heyl had been sentenced in 1977 for an earlier string of bank robberies. The stander gang 198384 between october 1983, and february 1984, the stander gang, comprising andre charles stander 37, patrick lee mccall 34 and allan heyl 32, were south africas most wanted men. Jan 01, 2000 stander executes heists with casual efficiency and nearsuicidal daring at one point, the gang deliberately rob the bank next door to the hq of the police task force specifically charged with.
Three years into his 75year sentence, stander and two inmates, patrick mccall and allan heyl, managed to escape from jail and they formed the stander gang. Whiter than white the true story of andre stander, south. Its a fascinating story as evidenced by the excellent 2004 movie, stander but. The police officer turned bank robber aug 11, 2004. After he daringly escapes from prison and forms the stander gang with fellow escapees allan heyl and patrick lee mccall, the three men set off to crumble the status quo and capitalize on the chaos.
In 1980 miami, a determined cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel and succumbs to greed. The gang that couldnt shoot straight film wikipedia. The unbelievable true story of the cop who robbed banks. Stander s sensationalized activities won him celebrity status by the time of his first arrest for twentysix robberies. Gang leader andre stander is shot dead in the united states. Stander as a movie is compare able to blow from johnny depp which was also a true story movie. Bank robber my time with andre stander by heyl, allan.
He wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and thus helped him into the service. A gangster is jailed for ten years after his wife becomes pregnant. Star movie hd 2019 action movies recommended for you. Stander was portrayed by american actor thomas jane in the 2003 film stander. Stander is your classic bank robber movie and in the pantheon of heist pictures, this film ranks pretty high up there. Stander 2003 allmovie movies and films database movie. I felt the best thing from the movie was the fact that they made johannesburg look so much like it did in the 80s and the cars they used, with all the different number plates, as well as the old bank names, was a classy touch. The gang of three had become notorious particularly after they robbed three banks in less than an hour in january 1984. He was twentysix years old and couldnt face that many years behind bars.
The son of a prominent figure in the south african prison service, major general frans stander, andre was under pressure from an early age to pursue a career in law. Stander was a very good film about the reallife exploits of andre stander, lee mccall and allan heyl who were known collectively as the stander gang. A lawman fed up with the corruption in apartheidera south africa takes to robbing banks in this gritty crime drama from writerdirector bronwen hughes. Between october 1983, and february 1984, the stander gang, comprising andre charles stander 37, patrick lee mccall 34 and allan heyl 32, were south africas most wanted men. Robinson, james stewart, rose stradner, lionel stander. Stander tells the story of the notorious afrikaner bank robber and former police captain andre stander. To the south african government, however, the former police officer is a cause of embarrassment, and the stander gang are the most wanted men in the country. Stander and mccall escaped from prison in august 1983, and broke heyl out in october of that same year.
Andre stander was the most notorious bank robber in south african history. Lionel stander, the star of a movie, the gang that couldnt shoot straight, being filmed in new york, went to his closet to select his costume for the day. The movie works perfectly as an action movie, but if the intention was to give any political connotation to the actions of the antihero stander, it completely fails. Eddie the butcher is an avowed anarchist and member of the stern gang aka the lehi, fighters for the freedom of israel. Watch stander 2003 full movie free online streaming tubi. Stander is a 2003 film about the true story of south african police captain andre stander played by thomas jane who robbed 26 banks during his time as a police captain in the late 1970s and twenty more after breaking out of prison, going on a six month crime spree from 1983 to 1984 with his two accomplices lee mccall and allan heyl the following firearms were used in the film stander. A 27year old woman was walking with her family near the intersection of. Lionel stander, the movie character actor with the great gravelly voice, was born on january 11th. It was about the thrills, says allan heyl, sole surviving. Aug 06, 2004 tom jane stars as andre stander, a reallife police officer in south africa who in the mid1970s broke rank from his peers and became the countrys most notorious bank robber. Im being tried for robbery but ive killed unarmed people, he. Quote andre stander 1946 february 1984 was a police captain at the cid branch of kempton park police station, south africa who began robbing banks in the 1970s, and later became known in popular media as the head of the stander gang in the early 1980s. When krozac resists their torture, the gang kidnaps his son to apply pressure.
Andre stander grew up under the law and was the son of major general frans stander who was highly respected in the south african prison service. The filmmakers were able to talk to allan heyl, one of andre stander s accomplices who was still in prison. Far from coy, stander used the porsche to go to nightclubs and to transport girls from an escort agency to and from the gangs three safe house in the affluent suburb of houghton. This script is a transcript that was painstakingly transcribed using the screenplay andor viewings of stander. Oct 21, 2018 it is surreal, to be sharing peanut butter cookies with one of the most memorable bank robbers in sas history. The gang that couldnt shoot straight is a 1971 american mafia comedy film directed by james goldstone and written by waldo salt, based on the 1969 novel of the same name by jimmy breslin, which in turn was based on the life of gangster joe gallo. Standers life was the subject of a usmade movie entitled stander which was released in 2003 at the toronto film festival in canada. His father, frans stander, was a general in the south african department of. While in prison, stander met and befriended two other bank robbers, patrick lee mccall and allan heyl. The filmmakers were able to talk to allan heyl, one of andre standers accomplices who was still in prison. He becomes bitter when she divorces him and remarries. The movie version, now on dvd, follows the book closely. Looking at the stander gang of south africa, a group that began robbing banks in the 1980s. Allan heyl, now a paunchy 67yearold, is the last surviving member of the stander gang.