Take a Donald E. Westlake novel, have legendary screenwriter William Goldman adapt it, then bring on Peter Yates to direct, and you have this, a bad ass comedy/action hybrid.
Gentleman burglar John Dortmunder has just been released from prison, and no sooner does he get through the gates than his brother-in-law Andy is pulling him into another heist. The Brooklyn Museum is housing a precious gem that was stolen by Colonials from it's home in Africa, and Dr. Amusa wants it back. Soon, John and Andy are putting together a crew of eccentric but loveable thieves, and carefully planning the "retrieval" of the coveted "hot rock".
In a comedy of errors, things go wrong, and gaining possession of the jewel becomes a personl obsession with the affable, yet persistent, John. Hilarity ensues, along with the escalating action.
Yates had previously directed BULLIT, and was on his way to making films like THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE, THE DEEP, and the bizarro sci-fi flick KRULL. Here he is joined by one of the greatest ensemble casts ever put together, with Robert Redford, George Segal, Zero Mostel, Moses Gunn Paul Sand, and Ron Liebman all turning in incredibly deft, fun performances. The New York locations are wonderful, and funky, and will make you lament the Disney-fied sterilization the metropolis has gone through over the last couple of decades. But it's here in all it's glory in THE HOT ROCK. To add, the Quincy Jones composed soundtrack serves to give everything a nice, jazzy urban sheen
Made in what many film lovers consider the greatest year for 70's American cinema (1972 y'all!) this is one that deserves to be on everybody's top shelf at home. A genre-mashing underrated masterpiece.
Watch the trailer, the order the dvd HERE!
~Sean Smithson
No comments:
Post a Comment