Unsung 'Butch Cassidy' Update, Sort of

SPOILERS

Caper movies can be nifty, but they also tend to lack something. From "Ocean's Eleven" (the original) through "Topkapi" through "Gambit" through that Sean Connery/Zeta Jones thing through "Ocean's Eleven" (the remake), one invariably gets a sense of the same old same old: the team on the mission to lift the diamond, usually from a room with security laser beams criss-crossing everywhere...oftimes, the "human element" of suspense or character is missing. These are "puzzle movies."

"The Hot Rock," from Donald Westlake's novel filtered through William Goldman's screenplay, does the same old same old caper-wise...but different.

If you've seen it, you know the delicious gag: Robert Redford's Gang of Four successfully steal "the hot rock" (an African diamond) -- and then lose it. And then steal it again in a new caper -- and then lose it. And then steal it again in a new caper -- and then lose it.

This is like, five caper movies in one. Plus the Myth of Sisyphus. Plus (as someone here has posted), Wile E. Coyote vs. the Road Runner (the hot rock IS the road runner.) It's also a little like Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry," where people have to keep burying a body, digging it up, and reburying it.

But I think William Goldman's most subtle touch was to write "The Hot Rock" as if it were a new version of his famous "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" script.

In that one, it was Paul Newman as the leader and Robert Redford as his buddy. In this one, Redford moves up to "leader" and the estimable George Segal is the "buddy."

Robert Redford was trying to make his "Butch Cassidy" stardom take him higher, but, for a few years, it wasn't really happening. Movies like "Wilie Boy," "Little Fauss and Big Halsey" and this one didn't really make the big bucks. Redford would need "Jeremiah Johnson" "The Way We Were" and "The Sting" to go over the top -- and big co-stars in two of those.

No matter. Redford is still handsome and deadpan and funny in "The Hot Rock," a cool thief who pretty much starts his newest caper right after being released from prison ("You gonna go straight this time?"the guard asks Redford at the prison gate; "My heart wouldn't be in it," he replies.) This is rather exactly how the George Clooney "Ocean's Eleven" begins, btw. An homage? Not necessarily, because its how "The Anderson Tapes" with Sean Connery starts in 1971, BEFORE "The Hot Rock." Everything old is new again.

George Segal was about to undertake his biggest years of stardom as "the Jewish Cary Grant." He was a handsome, carping urban foil to Redford's WASPY cool guy; together, Redford and Segal kept up the arguing buddy-banter in a way that would make Paul Newman proud (plus, Redford decks Segal early on, which is a bit criminal of him.)

Need we remind folks that Redford is playing "John Dortmunder" and Segal is playing "Harry Kelp"?Funny names that don't fit the handsome actors.

Manic driver/helicopter pilot Ron Liebman and bookish neurotic bombmaker Paul Sand make up the rest of the team (Sand is a forerunner of the Richard Lewis NYC neurotic.) I don't think it is offensive to note that the lead actors in "The Hot Rock" called this movie "Three Jews and a Jock" (Segal, Liebman, Sand, and Redford.)

"The Hot Rock" like other 70's movies about NYC crime to come ("The Taking of Pelham One Two Three," "Dog Day Afternoon") makes the point that crime in New York City must always take a back seat to the reality of life IN New York City. Thus Redford, while staking out his next caper, is mugged in broad daylight ("I like that watch," "Well if you're a good boy, maybe you'll get one for Christmas," "No I like THAT watch") . Thus, the NYC cops under siege by Redford's gang are fairly grumpy and confused about it. (The radio's out, the watch commander asks, "Did you try...monkeying with it?")

Completing the "New Yorkness" of "The Hot Rock" is the late arrival in the film of the great Zero Mostel, as Sand's shyster lawyer father, who wants in on the hot rock action, too. Seeing Robert Redford and Zero Mostel in the same shot on screen is rather disconcerting; but they play well off of each other: super-cool vs. over-the-top.

"The Hot Rock" just gets funnier and funnier as the team of crooks determine to get that rock back, again and again, even as their regal African employer gives up on them and Redford's ulcer acts up ("I'm gonna get that rock...or its gonna get me.")
The final solution is rather weak, but Redford's joy in finally winning is a low-key wonder to behold, with some fun Dixieland jazz to communicate his pleasure.

Oddly enough, as noted above, "The Hot Rock" was not a hit. Hard to say why. Movies with crooks as heroes and cops as saps weren't necessarily that popular in the 70's. Or maybe it was one caper film too many.

But if you like caper movies, or "Butch Cassidy" or buddy-banter, or New York City comedies of the 70's...try "The Hot Rock."