Runtime: 101 minutes
Directed by: Peter Yates
Starring: Robert Redford, George Segal, Ron Leibman, Paul Sand, Moses Gunn
From: 20th Century Fox
Afghanistan Banana Stand
This movie was actually watched for Letterboxd aesthetic reasons. You see, it wasn't the plan going in but after I posted my review for Shoot the Piano Player, I realized that if I saw one more motion picture that had a yellow/gold poster, my Recent Activity feed here would have four yellow/gold posters in a row. It'll be something to screenshot and chuckle about that this was a happenstance occurrence which turned into an amusing gag. There were several films I could have chosen but this was due to convenience (it's currently on the Criterion Channel) and a few months after the fact I could say RIP George Segal. He was great here in character, performance and camaraderie with the other main performers, especially other lead actor Robert Redford.
Redford played Dortmunder, someone who is let out of the state pen in the opening scene; that was not his first stint in prison. Segal played his brother-in-law Kelp, who ropes him into a scheme to steal a giant diamond from a museum. To garner more sympathy, the request was from a rich African who wishes the diamond returned to his country rather than it be stuck in a museum or it be claimed by another African country. There are... complications so there are actually multiple schemes done by the two leads plus Murch (Ron Leibman, not surprisingly playing a very exciteable character) and Greenberg-Paul Sand-escalating each time in seriousness and risk.
All the schemes are interesting and fun but the most important aspect of this heist comedy is the humor, and thankfully due to situation, dialogue & jokes the movie is pretty funny. Of course the two leads have plenty of banter w/ each other, some of it hostile. It was also nice seeing both Moses Gunn & Zero Mostel in prominent roles. I can't say for certain as none of them have been watched by me-from hearsay this is quite similar in tone to the Soderbergh Oceans picture so if you like those or Logan Lucky... likewise, perhaps one day I'll finally give those a shot. For certain those pictures won't have scores that are bitchin' like what Quincy Jones created here but hopefully they won't be wastes of time.
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