When Crooks and Coronets (1969) premiered in the United Kingdom in the spring of 1969, many reviews focused on the offbeat casting (Telly Savalas, Warren Oates, and Dame Edith Evans), with The Radio Times suggesting that the film seemed "a sort of Carry On... meets The Dirty Dozen." In truth, Jim Connelly's wry crime comedy was an attempt to update the Ealing Studios formula, in the spirit of such classics of British cinema as The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and The Lady Killers (1955). Cesar Romero costars as a New York mob boss who sends low-ranking underworld goons Savalas and Oates to bilk an eccentric British family of their presumed riches - but the scheme goes haywire when the conmen fall in love with their marks. Shot on location at the 17th Century Cliveden House (then the property of the heirs of American-born British politician Waldorf Astor), Crooks and Coronets was a change of pace for both Savalas (who would go on to play James Bond's arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service) and Oates (who had just wrapped The Wild Bunch). According to actor Nicky Henson, Savalas demanded all the perks of his newly-minted star status (including the Rolls Royce seen in the film) while Oates remained more down-to-earth; after wrapping the film, Oates married British castmate Vickery Turner (who would appear in his 1971 film Chandler). Crooks and Coronets was released in the United States as Sophie's Place.

By Richard Harland Smith