The Bank Shot

An early laugh in this film directed by Gower champion has a reference that will make you think of his Broadway musical "Hello Dolly!", rather obscure ten years after its Broadway opening, but amusing to those who get it. There's also the presence of Bibi Osterwald, Carol Channing's understudy, playing an amusingly eccentric supporting character. But for the most part, this caper comedy isn't very funny, and it takes an hour for the caper to the begin. The story surrounds the theft of a bank. Not a bank robbery, but the actual lifting up of a trailer that is home to a bank in a shopping center (then known as a plaza), placed on a flatbed truck and take it into a warehouse where the circus like atmosphere has all the perpetrators (led by George C Scott and Joanna Cassidy) trying to get the darn thing open. Decent supporting performances by Osterwald, Clifton James and Sorrell Brooke are minor saving graces to this fiasco which made right after the success of the same author's "The Hot Rock". Scott has a sneer on his face throughout that could be disgust as if he knows it's going to tank which it did. Its attempt to be wistful fails miserably, so their bank shot ends up being the title's second word with a different vowel.

George C. Scott didn't make many comedies, and when he did he played the straight man. Any movie buff who has seen much of his work would probably doubt his ability to do comedy any other way. "The Bank Shot" turned out not very good. But the plot for this film had real potential. All it needed to be successful would have been to eliminate the character or most of the role that Clifton James plays, as Streiger. Once Scott's Walter Ballentine escapes from prison, there's no further need for Streiger in the movie. But the decision to sort of build a double plot - around Ballentine's bank heist efforts, and the Streiger-led efforts to catch Ballentine's gang, ruins this film. It creates overload, and removes any suspense there might be about the heist working. Besides, who ever heard of a warden leading a police network and manhunt? No, I think the plot without the organized chase by Streiger would have been a very good comedy, with the gang encountering and dodging the usual police presence. Then, the time and space saved from the Streiger removal could have had a little more comedy put into the dialog of the crooks. And, the ending could have been kept as is, with regular police arriving on the scene, or changed to something else creatively funny. I was quickly annoyed by the diversions to Streiger after the first one, and instead tried to enjoy the heist plot and antics without letting the diversions take away from the film. With that I can give this film six stars. Take Streiger out after the prison break and it would jump at least one notch. Put in some more comedy around the gang and it could climb to an 8-star film for entertainment.

While the Three Stooges were mostly dead by 1974, the film really seems as if it would have worked better with them (probably before they died...but either way). After all, instead of a clever and subtle comedy, "The Bank Shot" ends up being a kooky one...a kooky one that just doesn't quite work. The film definitely was meant to be a comedy...but it's so over-the-top at times that I think it would elicit more groans than laughs. Oddly, however, the film does NOT feature comedians. If you're going to do a kooky caper film, why pick George C. Scott (a definitely unfunny sort of guy) to star in the film?! And, why add those giant bushy Cookie Monster-like eyebrows to him? Is this supposed to somehow make him funny? Given the right material and direction it still might have worked...such as his performance in Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove". But here in "The Bank Shot"...it's just disappointing. The story begins with Walter (Scott) in prison for bank robbery. His idiotic friend, Al (Sorrell Booke), arrives posing as Walter's lawyer. Why? Because he knows of a bank that is just waiting to be robbed...and he wants Walter to escape and then mastermind the robbery. Well, considering EVERYONE is incredibly stupid in the story, it's amazingly easy for Walter to just leave prison. In fact, that's a HUGE weakness of the story....everyone is stupid and behaves stupidly. And, they are so inept it wouldn't take a criminal mastermind to organize this caper! It turns out that a bank is undergoing renovations and the bank is being temporarily housed in a mobile home. Walter's plan isn't to hold up the bank in the traditional way, but steal the entire bank! Can they get away with it? And, is anyone in the film actually smarter than a tomato? A different actor in the lead and/or a different director who understands subtlety, as well as a re-write might have made the story work well. But as it is, it's just a kooky time-passer starring one of the greatest actors of his day...in a film completely ill-suited for his talents. A few funny moments...but only a few. By the way, in one scene the police are shown backing all their vehicles up a long distance. If you look at the pedestrians, you can actually tell that they just ran the film backwards...as they are walking backwards as well as the cars. I'm not sure if this was deliberate...or they were incompetent.

Although I think George C. Scott is much better at drama than at comedy, he controls his normal intensity and does well with Bank Shot. Scott plays a master criminal who's on temporary hiatus in prison when his disbarred lawyer Sorrell Booke visits him with an idea for a heisting a bank. Scott escapes with relative ease the penal institution run by Clifton James where he's incarcerated. Which gives James an obsession to catch him that he leaves the job and supervises the manhunt. But that's like the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. Booke's only half right. He wants to rob a bank where a bank is temporarily housed in a mobile home. But Scott doesn't like his original plan. Let's heist the bank itself. Some pretty funny gags are in Bank Shot and the crew Booke gives Scott would be closer to The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. Funniest is his nephew Bob Balaban former FBI employee who apparently developed an admiration for the criminal lifestyle while employed there. A gambit you could never use while J. Edgar Hoover was running the show. Best bit is the faux railroad impending crash at a crossing where James and security guards are forced to flee for their lives after the temporary bank has been heisted. Scott also is of the opinion that women and his kind of work don't mix. With reluctance he has Joanne Cassidy who assisted with his escape as part of his team. The saltpeter in his prison diet have made him somewhat resistant to her beauty although Cassidy does her best to see it her way. Scott and the cast do a wonderful job. James is really the funny one here. Scott plays it absolutely straight and let's the rest of the cast get the laughs. It works out well in Bank Shot.

Scripted by Wendell Mayes, based on the novel by Donald E. Westlake, "Bank Shot" tells a farcical story with some style. George C. Scott stars, playing the same character that Robert Redford played in the film version of "The Hot Rock", albeit with a different name. Walter Upjohn Ballantyne is a career criminal who breaks out of jail in order to participate in a most unusual bank robbery. He and his cohorts won't just attempt to steal its money, they'll make off with the bank itself! In order to see what I mean, you'll just have to watch this one. The movie isn't exactly perfect. For one thing, it might have been nice to have some genuine tension. It also tends to have frenetic sequences of actors shouting over each other and rendering their dialogue unintelligible. However, the fact that it is so blatantly comedic helps to make up, somewhat, for any holes there are in the script. Guided by actor & director Gower Champion ("Show Boat", "My Six Loves"), "Bank Shot" does have incredible comic energy, and is paced extremely well, wrapping up in a tidy 84 minutes. Its main value is the chemistry between an eclectic ensemble: a very amusing Scott, lovely Joanna Cassidy ("Blade Runner") as the jet setter bankrolling the heist, Sorrell "Boss Hogg" Booke as Ballantynes' shady lawyer, Bob Balaban ("Altered States") as the lawyers' shady nephew, Don Calfa ("The Return of the Living Dead") as the getaway driver, Bibi Osterwald ("As Good as it Gets") as the drivers' mom, and Frank McRae ("48 Hrs.") as the hot tempered safecracker. Look, also, for Liam Dunn ("Blazing Saddles") as a painter and Jack Riley ('The Bob Newhart Show') as an FBI agent. Clifton James ("Live and Let Die") is Ballantynes' nemesis, a prison warden who's actually a fairly amiable character. Bright widescreen photography and a peppy John Morris music score help to make this an agreeable, if not outstanding, comic crime caper. It never does get very unpleasant, which may further enhance its appeal for some viewers. Seven out of 10.

Crusty criminal mastermind Walter Upjohn Ballantine (a marvelously grouchy performance by George C. Scott) breaks out of prison and devises a wild plan to rob a bank by stealing the whole building (!). The big gig goes off without a hitch, but the aftermath of said gig goes disastrously awry. Meanwhile, gruff, hard-nosed Warden Streiger (a deliciously broad portrayal by veteran character actor Clifton James) tries to nab Ballantine before he gets away. Director Gower Champion, working from a tight and witty script by Wendell Mayes, relates the engagingly wacky story at a constant zippy pace and maintains a properly zany tone throughout. The tip-top cast have a ball with their colorful roles: Scott keeps his dignity and a straight face amongst the loopy other characters, James chews up the scenery with lip-smacking gusto, ravishing redhead knockout Joanna Cassidy adds considerable sex appeal with her delightfully spunky turn as flaky'n'lusty financial backer Eleonora, plus there are nifty contributions by Sorrell Booke as Ballantine's bumbling partner Al G. Karp, Bob Balaban as Karp's eager beaver nephew Victor, Bibi Osterwald as the dotty Mums Gornik, Don Calfa as antsy driver Stosh Gornik, and Frank McRae as hot-tempered safecracker Herman X. Harry Stradling, Jr's crisp cinematography, John Morris' suitably quirky and lively score, a nice unexpected ending, and the overall infectiously goofy comic sensibility all further enhance the prevalent blithely silly charm of this immensely funny hoot.

Recap: Karp is planning a heist. And for that he needs a true criminal mastermind, Walter Upjohn Ballentine. Problem is, Ballentine is behind bars at Steiger's Institute. And Bulldog Steiger never lets anyone escape, especially not Bellentine. However, Ballentine breaks out and heads out to LA to plan this heist. And what a plan it is... he is not about to just rob a bank. He is about to steal a bank! Comments: A very interesting idea. But the end result is just average. Why? My personal opinion is that most of the characters just pulls it down. Written as a bunch of amateurs to bring about some comic effect, I just found them disturbing. It was really Ballentine that knew what he was doing, the rest of them was mostly just dumb. I found them annoying. Well, still a good heist, and a good heist is always appreciated. So the story saves the movie. Not much more to say, really. 5/10

Incarcerated thief--with a colorful rap-sheet of offenses--is tipped off by a former crony about a little bank near Los Angeles just waiting to be robbed; he breaks out of prison and surveys the bank in question, deciding it would be better to make off with the entire mobile building rather than just the safe. Scrappy adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's novel (a follow-up to his similarly-themed "The Hot Rock", itself filmed in 1972), this half-assed comedy-caper is poorly photographed and directed, but does benefit from energetic supporting players and some mild laughs in the opening. It falls apart after an hour or so, with George C. Scott (sporting exaggerated eyebrows and a peculiar, Ed Wynn-like speaking voice) badly miscast in the lead. * from ****

"The Bank Shot" is a pleasant enough little film with a decent cast that you've seen in many other movies and television episodes. George C. Scott is a terrific actor. Three distinct movies that show his broad acting range (in my opinion) are "Anatomy Of A Murder", "Patton", and "The Bank Shot." I felt he handled the comedy in this movie very well. The novel that this was taken from (by Donald Westlake) is quite funny as are most of his books. Two other films based on Westlake's novels, "The Hot Rock" & "Cops And Robbers" were filmed in the same era and are equally funny. Joanna Cassidy was bubbly and bright and very attractive (still is, too!). Sorrell Booke was a treat and got to ham it up the most as Ballentine's "lawyer", Al G. Karp. By the way, speaking of ham, did anyone else catch that the character name Hermann X (portrayed by Frank McRae) sounds an awful lot like "ham & eggs?" Clifton James narration was quite humorous especially during the opening scenes. G. Wood was very good in M.A.S.H (and M*A*S*H--television) and plays Streiger's assistant quite ably. Overall, an innocuous flick with humor, slapstick and hardly any cursing so watch it with the family. Most enjoyable and worth viewing for all the actors you know and love.

This may be the one that George C Scott cringed about, but WHAT a laugh it was! Certainly not an intellectual feast, but why should every movie be just that? I like my mind to be tickeled, but laughs are always welcome and badly needed to! This is one of those movies that is small and light and fluffy and is simply truly great entertainment, simply because it is so unpretentious. If you want a break from every day life, this is great watching with gags galore, and it is precisely Scott's very annoyed attitude that makes it work. His "Leave me alone you crazies" attitude makes the other characters carry through a vision of a crazy world, that is despite its outrageous insanity closer to the truth of every day senselessness than we all would admit. I first saw this one as a kid, and I can still laugh about it. It is from the same period as "Harold and Maude" and while by no means carrying any social or philosophical comments like Harold and Maude, it certainly has that irreverent flair of the 70s. Does a movie always have to be serious? Whatever happened to simple laughter and charme and the kind of babedom and sexiness displayed by a young Joanna Cassidy? Every character punched through and was flavorful and strong. I will also take this movie's camera-work over anything done with the 90s vintage (and still in use) "new look" stupid jiggling camera and zoomiezoom wiggle-jiggle and zoom-in-zoom-out-pretending-to-be-documentary stuff that makes me sea sick and makes me hit the "off" button regardless of what the story line may be! This one is one of my all time favorite comedies , and I don't care what critics think or Scott thought! It feels right and it lives in a different world. Now isn't also what movies can be all about?