Two crooks are hired to rob an eccentric old lady's estate, but once they get to know her, they can't bring themselves to do it.
Recently paroled convicts Herbie Haseler and Marty Miller are broke and go to New York to get funding for a planned heist from crime boss Nick Marco. Nick is tired of these two idiots who bungled their last caper and Nick is reluctant to finance Herbie and Marty again. Besides, the duo still owes ten thousand dollars compounded over the 5 years at 100% to Nick for bankrolling the armored car heist that went wrong, sending Herbie and Marty to prison. However, Herbie has been in charge of the prison library and has studied a lot. He convinces Nick to finance one more caper, this time in England, where many rich lords live in opulent mansions. These English mansions house many treasures, including fine art, priceless paintings, antiquities and more. Although skeptical, New York mob boss Nick Marco reluctantly agrees to send Herbie and Marty to England to add some rare paintings to his collection. Nick also gets in touch with his mob contacts in the UK to assist Herbie and Marty. The contact is Frank Finley, the London mob boss who owns most of the London casinos. The target is the large English countryside estate of elderly Lady Sophie Fitzmore who lives with her loyal nephew Freddie Fritzmore. When the crooks get on site the caper doesn't go as planned.—nufs68
Friends and former associates Herbie Haseler and Marty Miller have both recently been released from their respective latest stints in prison in New York, they both not the best crooks but career crooks nonetheless. In meeting up, they both realize that although neither wants to go back to prison, they have to return to a life of crime to exist, Herbie, the brains between the two, who had actually been studying in prison on what best to do next. In discovering they owe several hundred thousand dollars to the syndicate led by Nick Marco for their last bungled robbery, the one that sent them to prison this latest time, they are able to convince Nick to go in with them as providing the necessary expenses for that heist in return for a percentage of the take: to rob one of the stately English country manors of its largely unprotected riches. The one Herbie believes is the best choice is Greyfriar's Manor owned by Lord Freddie Fitzmore, and in taking only the most portable of the items would net them at least $5 million. In scoping out the manor, Herbie and Marty befriend Freddie and his eccentric grandmother, Lady Sophie Fitzmore, in addition to a few more exotic creatures in the form of a lion and tigers. They are also able to wend their way into a position to make the job easier than they anticipated. In the process, they end up getting caught in the middle between the Fitzmores, Nick, and Nick's British associates led by casino owner Frank Finley who was enlisted to provide support to Herbie and Marty while in England. While Herbie and Marty have to figure out a way to get out of their bind, Sophie may have her own thoughts of what to do in general as she does with much in her life.—Huggo