Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1974
Bank Shot
Buy Bank Shot now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Bank Shot' is a 1974 heist film directed by Gower Champion and written by Wendell Mayes. It was loosely based upon Donald E. Westlake's 1972 novel of the same name, which was the second book of his "Dortmunder" series. The film stars George C. Scott, Joanna Cassidy, Sorrell Booke, and G. Wood.
Plot
A bank, temporarily housed in a mobile home while a new building is built, looks like an easy target to break into. On the other hand, why not steal the whole bank, and rob it in a safer location? That is what Al Karp, the former partner of jailed criminal planner Walter Ballantine, thinks, so Karp arranges for Ballantine to escape from the Streiger Institute (a privately run penitentiary) and convinces him to mastermind the heist. The film is narrated by Warden Streiger (known as "Bulldog" Streiger).
Cast
Production
Wendell Mayes later said he wrote it because he loved Westlake's novels but felt the film failed due to the direction of Gower Champion. "I felt that Hollywood had never truly done justice to his [Westlake's peculiar brand of humor in motion pictures," said Mayes. "I was trying to do that brand of humor, something that is just slightly tilted, which at first you don't realize is slightly tilted. It was a charming idea... the idea of not simply robbing a bank but stealing the whole building. What happened is that Gower tried to turn it into a farce, and it didn't work. The people weren't equipped to play farce. Gower was a nice guy and a marvelous stage director; but the film simply wasn't deft, and it should have been. He held pretty much to the script but ruined what I thought was a good piece. He was the only bad experience I've ever had in my career with a director. I was bitterly disappointed."
Reception
Vincent Canby of 'The New York Times' was mildly amused: "It's not a great movie. It's not worth taking a taxi to see. Yet there are many less invigorating ways to waste one's time. ... The intensity of Scott's performance is highly comic. His Walter Ballantine has the discipline, self-assurance and narrow vision of the true fanatic. So, too, do most of the other characters in the film... Gower Champion, who has had more success as a Broadway director ('Hello, Dolly') than as a maker of films ('My Six Loves'), seems to have had a great deal of fun with first-rate actors doing 'Bank Shot' grace of a work by someone who knows exactly what he's doing." Arthur D. Murphy of 'Variety' called it "an innocuous little trifle" and "formula caper material, hyped by humor that is variously silly, forced and strident."Murphy, Arthur D. (July 10, 1974). "Film Reviews: Bank Shot". 'Variety'. 16. Gene Siskel of the 'Chicago Tribune' gave the film two stars out of four and dismissed it as "a trivial, television-caliber, bank heist comedy."Siskel, Gene (July 30, 1974). "Scott's 'Bank Shot's' no big shot". 'Chicago Tribune'. Section 2, p. 4. Charles Champlin of the 'Los Angeles Times' wrote, "While 'The Bank Shot,' adapted by Wendell Mayes from a Donald Westlake novel, is at best a lightly amusing and never very suspenseful caper film, it is lit with moments of plain wonderful and imaginative silliness."Champlin, Charles (August 14, 1974). "Stylish Silliness in 'The Bank Shot'". 'Los Angeles Times'. Part IV, p. 19. Gary Arnold of 'The Washington Post' stated, "Despite its rather too effective air of inconsequence, 'The Bank Shot' is a reasonably good time," adding that "Champion demonstrates a wonderful talent for staging and shooting wide-screen sight gags."Arnold, Gary (July 20, 1974). "Slightly Off-Target 'Shot'". 'The Washington Post'. F6. Richard Combs of 'The Monthly Film Bulletin' remarked that the film "definitely looks as if it belongs to a bygone age, to the days of Kramer's 'Mad, Mad World'," with much of its sense of fun coming off as "decidedly strenuous and heavily mugged."
See also
* List of American films of 1974
References
Buy Bank Shot now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1974