Summary
Outside of his career as an agent in the StB secret police, Ivan Gariš (real name Antonín Prchal) also worked as a writer and screenwriter. From 1971-1981, Gariš specialised in criminal and spy thrillers, naturally intertwined with a strong ideological component (for example Cesty mužů – Roads of Men, 1972; Akce v Istanbulu – Operation in Istanbul, 1975). In the criminal drama Kdo přichází před půlnocí (Who Comes before Midnight, 1979), Gariš and director Zbyňek Brynych focus on a band of thieves who rob a van carrying a million crowns in cash for the payment of the staff at a farming cooperative. A trio of recidivists carry out the crime under the leadership of a former worker at the cooperative – the passionate stamp collector Chota. Criminologist Bárta is on the tail of the gang, assisted by a relative – a pickpocket. One interesting component of this movie is that certain scenes were shot in a number of real-life locations which served as the meeting point for the Prague criminal underground (for example the Marica bar, where some faces of the local underworld are seen passing by).
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