Goofs for
The Bank Job (2008) More at IMDbPro »

• Anachronisms: Although the film is set in 1971, signs on various shop doors seen in the film advertise that credit cards "Visa" and "Mastercard" are accepted. The name "Visa" was not used for the charge card before 1977 (replacing Barclaycard in the UK); "Mastercard" was "Master Charge" until 1979.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The white police car (Jaguar) has orange stripes down the side. These were not introduced until the late 1970s.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Paddington station is shown as restored with new British Rail signs. In 1971, the station would have been rather dirty from the steam days and many of the main signs would have still been original. Also, the train carriage is of 1973 vintage.
  
  

• Anachronisms: The underground train used in the film would have been used only on the newly opened Victoria Line and would have looked brand new in 1971. In 1971, both the Northern Line (Tottenham Court Road) and Bakerloo Line (Edgware Road to Paddington) would have had red underground trains possibly dating from the 1930s to the 1950s.
  
  
• Factual errors: On the end credits, the characters are grouped into categories. The category "VILLAINS" is misspelled as "VILLIANS".
  
  
• Anachronisms: While at the cocktail party Anthony Johnson's Gunshot is playing in the background, this song didn't exist until 1981.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The two tone police sirens as heard on the film have a distinct Gallic note, and are not the familiar two tone siren used by the Metropolitan Police in the '70s and '80s.
  
  
• Continuity: Martine's coat goes from buttoned to unbuttoned several times while she and the other robbers are talking in the warehouse just after the robbery.
  
  
• Continuity: When Martine is recruiting Terry for the job, he is holding his drink with his left hand (complete with wedding band), then, without changing hands, sets it on the table with his right.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Terry (Jason Statham) wears a TAG Heuer Monaco watch. The watch was already produced, but the brands name was Heuer then. The TAG-Group and Heuer consolidated in 1985.
  
  
• Anachronisms: A shot of the exterior of Edgware Road station shows a sign pointing to the 'Hammersmith and City' Line. This wasn't named as such until 1998 and would therefore have still been called the Metropolitan Line in 1970.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When testing the thermic lance for the first time the machine that was used to flip the table is clearly visible in the final shot of the scene.
  
  
• Anachronisms: A Revox B77 reel to reel tape recorder is used by the ham radio operator to record the walkie-talkie traffic of the bank robbers. While the movie is set in 1971, the B77 recorder was not released until 1978.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The pneumatic drill is referred to by at least three different characters as a "jack hammer". This is an American term and unlikely to have been in common use in the UK in the early 70s.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The movie's opening sequence ("Caribbean 1970") plays the T-Rex song "Bang A Gong (Get It On)," first released in September 1971. But it is only in the soundtrack, and the characters in the scene do not hear it.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In the newspaper which reports the robbery, "Sergeant" is misspelled "Sargeant."
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Michael X, from Trinidad, is depicted with a Jamaican accent.
  
  
• Anachronisms: A shot of the exterior of Baker St. station includes a glimpse of the upper section and roof of a London bus driving by at speed. However, it is possible to deduce from the 'straight' rectangular shape of the bus' roof that it is one of the new generation of front-entry buses, possibly the DMS series, first introduced in London in the mid-70s. Prior to this time, the most common double decker buses in London were the Routemaster (RM), introduced in the early 1960s, and the ubiquitous RT, the definitive London Bus, first introduced in the mid 1940s, both of these bus types having narrower roofs with rounded edges. So there is no way that the bus in this particular shot could have existed in 1971.
  
  

• Factual errors: SPOILER: Towards the end of the film where one of the robbers is suffocated to death with a plastic bag, in the light blue Mercedes, the car's registration plate ends in 'L'. The 'L' series is 1972/1973 plate, the newest registration plates at the time the film was set would have been 'K' and even in September 1971, that would have just come out.
  
  
• Continuity: SPOILER: When Guy Singer is murdered, he walks in with a blue bag, wrapped in a towel, under the arm. The camera perspective changes while he's stabbed, and when he falls down the bag has vanished.
  
  
• Factual errors: SPOILER: The end of the movie claims Michael X was charged and hanged with the murder of Gale Benson. He was actually charged with the murder of barber, Joseph Skerritt.
  
  

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