Three and One Half Stars
The Hot Rock (1972) is one of those cinematic aberrations that goes to show how hard it can be to conceive of and execute a hit movie. The pedigree of The Hot Rock is peerless. Screenwriter William Goldman and star Robert Redford were both hot off of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (for which Goldman picked up the Oscar), the screenplay was based on a popular novel by Donald Westlake (who also wrote the Parker novels under the name Richard Stark), and director Peter Yates had already made two crime classics with Bullitt and Robbery. George Segal and the rest of the cast round out the performances admirably and the music is provided by Quincy Jones backed by a veritable murderer’s row of jazz luminaries and studio musicians. The result of all this high profile talent is an entertaining charmer of a caper comedy that never captured the audience it deserved.
John Dortmunder (Redford) is a professional thief and planner of outlandish schemes who can’t seem to catch a break. The film opens with Dortmunder being released from prison only to be intercepted by his optimistic if not entirely professional brother-in-law, Andy Kelp (Segal). Kelp has been contracted to steal a large diamond from the Brooklyn Museum by Dr. Amusa (played to exasperated perfection by Moses Gunn). The gem has a history of being stolen and re-stolen by various African nations—one of which Amusa represents.
The gem’s felonious backstory would prove to foreshadow the events of the film. For each scheme Dortmunder meticulously plans and executes—complications arise to keep the gem out of their hands. Each caper becomes more and more outrageous and each time Dortmunder and Kelp go back to Amusa they must ask for increasingly expensive materiel.
Redford as the dejected Dortmunder and Segal as the upbeat—though neurotic—Kelp have an effortless chemistry together and along with the rest of the cast—wheelman Murch (Ron Leibman), demolitions man Greenberg (Paul Sand), and his not-entirely-trustworthy father (Zero Mostel!)—strike a wonderfully dry comedic tone. The bickering between the competent but luckless thieves shares a sensibility with Soderbergh’s heist pictures and the scene of Greenberg impassively demonstrating explosives—”I learned this at the Sorbonne”—feels like it could be from an early Wes Anderson film. When the crew manages to land on the wrong building during the helicopter raid of a police station, Murch instructs Dortmunder to ask for directions to the right rooftop as casually as he might for a missed off-ramp.
Stylistically there’s nothing particularly flashy about The Hot Rock but the film-making is solid and is notable—in part—due to when it was made. Several of the street scenes were shot guerrilla-style and are populated with real New Yorkers instead of extras. The helicopter photography of the city is stunning and the crew was able to weave in and out of buildings—including the World Trade Center Towers as they were still under construction. The score by Quincy Jones is superb—combining soul, jazz, and funk elements. Jones was able to get such incredible musicians—Carol Kaye, Gerry Mulligan, Grady Tate, Clark Terry—that he insisted they appear in the credits.
There’s a lot to like about The Hot Rock—it’s filled with great actors, genuinely funny moments, a groovy soundtrack, and heists. Instead of one big job, you get multiple capers. They may not always be the most plausible of schemes, but they strike a great balance between compelling action and outrageous circumstances. I think The Hot Rock is mandatory viewing for heist fans—also a nice introduction to the world of Westlake and his Dortmunder stories—but anyone could enjoy watching this on a lazy afternoon.
The Hot Rock is on DVD via 20th Century Fox and is currently available on Blu-Ray from Twilight Time Movies. The Twilight Time disc looks pretty good and has an isolated music track as many of their discs do. It also features an essay and audio commentary with Lem Dobbs, Julie Kirgo, and Nick Redman which is informative yet keeps a spirit of fun to go along with the film.
Clockwork Capers 