The Hot Rock (1972)

Wonderful character development!

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The hot rock is a stone that was inherited by many generations in Africa according to a African doctor, (Moses Gunn). However, it's effect is something else. The stone is located inside a measure on display inside a rectangular shaped glass structure. It hasn't been touched ever since. Well... until now.Taking place in New York City, The Hot Rock is a caper comedy directed by Peter Yates. This was Yates' latest film since his biggest success in Bullitt, which was released 4 years ago. The problem is that Bullitt is a serious crime thriller that took place in San Francisco and dealt with very well detailed characters. The police matter in that was so pure and interesting that at least the viewer had to admired what was on the big screen. The Hot Rock, on the other hand, is perhaps the most unlikely film to be directed by Yates. The story is based on a book written by Donald Westlake, who specializes in writing about the latest adventures of a thief called Dortmunder.Dortmunder, (Robert Redford), is released from jail and is told by his partner in crime, (George Segal), that an rare African stone is located inside a museum in Manhattan. Knowing this information, Dortmunder refuses to go along with the plan. So, he ensembles a crack team including an loudmouth, (Ron Leibman), an honest criminal, (Paul Sand), who's father, (Zero Mostel), is a lawyer. After the heist goes wrong and one of Redford's guys goes to prison, they realized that the stone was taken by Sand's character who swallowed it. The rest of the movie follows the crack team as they tries to retrieve the diamond so that they can get on with their lives. There's a lot of things that goes wrong while trying to get this tricky gem. First, the boys tries to retrieve it by opening up the sewer line in the jailhouse. Then, Redford threatens to kill Sand if he doesn't tell where the rock is.All of this is pretty repetitive, but what interests me the most is the way the movie uses its charm to cut through the repeating story. Yes, this is perhaps way different than Yates' other movie Robbery, which was taken seriously. I suppose he is trying to make a effort to break into the comedy genre while still trying to tell a story that involves crime. It does work in this movie, but I still think the performances by Redford and his crew are somehow jaded. It's seems as if these actors are waiting around to get the stone back without having to break out of character.Of course, there are some funny bits in this movie. My favorite is when Redford threatens to kill Sand and his father by throwing them both down an elevator shaft. You should see the look on Mostel's face when he said that he doesn't have the stone. Out of everything that works in this comedy caper, this scene works completely on its own.The movie does have other humorous scenes involving Segal trying to steal the gem while Redford and Sand try their very best to hold up the heavy glass casing, trapping Segal inside the display case. That scene looks like it was borrowed from some of the famous 1920's silent comedies. But, the question is, does it worked? Yes, it does. It's rare that The Hot Rock wasn't a big success as Bullitt because maybe the comedy just didn't flow well into the crime matter of the story. The flow does work in this hilarious film and I'll tell you that it would be a whole lot more funnier if they put in more funny bits. That would something else. ★★★ 3 stars.

Has there ever been a heist film that was so much fun and yet also so unsatisfying? THE HOT ROCK is top-flight until the last five minutes, when it simply ends. Peter Yates directed and he surely knows he way around this type of film (his 1967 ROBBERY is a classic of the genre) and the script is by the esteemed William Goldman, but they neglected to included any sort of pay-off. An African diplomat enlists a motley group of burglars (led by Robert Redford & George Segal) to steal a eponymous jewel only to have them lose the rock (several times). There's lots of clever dialog, some very funny set pieces (like a stolen helicopter landing on the WRONG roof) and a sparkling supporting cast. Redford & Segal are great and Ron Leibman, Paul Sand and Moses Gunn are in it too. William Redfield plays a befuddled cop and Zero Mostel is a shyster lawyer. The fun music score is by Quincy Jones.

Looked at now, this seems a very dated "buddy/caper" movie from the early 70's. Neither as suspenseful as "Topkapi" or as humorous as "The Pink Panther", it hopes to get by mainly on its star appeal, as personified by Robert Redford and hot-at-the-time George Segal. However there's not much acting to be had; with a script bereft of substantial dialogue and a fair smattering of time-consuming stunts, our two heroes mainly just get to bark at each other and mug at the lens, all the more surprising when you appreciate the screenplay is by William Goldman, late scriptor of "Butch Cassidy", the epitome of "buddy" movies and its little brother, the soon-come "The Sting". Segal is no Newman however and it's obvious that Redford is very much the main man here, but other than giving us his preferred profile, he's rarely exercised in a film that looks as if it was more fun to be in than to watch. The attempts at humour are forced, painfully at times, the supporting cast also exaggerate their playing, none more so than the choice hunk of ham that is Zero Mostel as the movie moves episodically and elephantinely to its even more improbable ending (a safe-deposit bank employee gets hypnotised by the floor-selection buttons in a lift...!). Quincy Jones' cod-jazz soundtrack, peopled as it is by heavyweight musicians like Gerry Mulligan and Clark Terry, doesn't help either. I could go on about the unfunny set-pieces of the botched robbery at the museum, attempts to fly a helicopter and the saw-it-coming-around-the-corner bluff which wrings the required confession out of Mostel's "Dishonest Abe" character but other than a passing hindsight discomfort at seeing a low-flying aircraft circling the under-construction World Trade Centre buildings, there's really very little to say one way or another. In fact the biggest laugh for me was unintentional - the gang's agreeing to pull off the heist for a measly $25000 each, the effect akin to Dr Evil's latter-day demand for $1,000,000 to stop him destroying the world in "Austin Powers". The 70's threw up some fine contemporary movies (many of which starred and were enhanced by Redford - "Three Days Of The Condor", "The Candidate" and "All The President's Men" to name but three). Here however he's coasting in a flaccid movie that does little for the reputations of cast and crew.

I like Robert Redford and George Segal, but this was only a thoroughly average heist film where the two men get together with a couple of other guys and are paid in the neighborhood of $100,000 to steal a diamond from a museum. They manage to pull it off rather easily, but then other complications abound including Zero Mostel as a sneaky lawyer. This is too long and not terribly interesting throughout, though Redford and Segal are okay as the leads. I enjoyed some of the New York photography more than anything else here. Sadly, we also see the World Trade Center in its early stages of being built. ** out of ****