University of Virginia Library

CINEMA

'Hot Rock' Peters Out In Subtlety

By PAUL CHAPLIN

I'm getting a little bored
with "perfect crime" films; it
seems that in the last two years
I've seen about twenty or so.
"The Hot Rock" doesn't
involve just one perfect crime,
but four variations on the same
crime.

Just released from prison,
Robert Redford plans to go
straight, until his
brother-in-law George Segal
talks him into accepting a job.
All they have to do is steal an
African ceremonial jewel from
the Brooklyn Museum, and
give it to a representative of
the nation who legally owns it.

Enlisting the aid of a hip
demolition expert played by
Paul Sand, and a greaser car
maniac, portrayed by Ron
Leibman, the four steal the
gem, but see their plan
backfire. Sand is caught and
imprisoned and being the last
one to see the stone, won't
release that information unless
he's sprung, which leads to a
jail break.

Sand takes the men to the
hiding place, a police station,
which is searched, but void of
the jewel. It turns out there
was a double-cross, and the
jewel is recovered again, and
crime pays as the four men
roar out of New York.

"The Hot Rock" is very
short on substantial plot.
William Goldman, author of
the script for "Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid" has an
interesting first heist, but the
following three crimes are a
gradual progression from
lackluster to dull to
uninteresting.

With such an exceptionally
talented cast, Goldman missed
the opportunity to have a good
deal more comic lines and
situations in the film.

The initial presentation of
Rom Leibman listening to a
stereo recording of drag racing
was funny and had lead me to
believe better things were to
come. Segal's character, during
the beginning of the film, was
constantly referred to as being
very nervous and tense, and I
hoped Goldman would write a
clever little scene in which
Segal would go into a panic
and possibly bungle the entire
caper.

When a studio assembles a
cast after a script's been
written, I would think a little
doctoring with the script to
adapt it for the actors would
be done. I'm certain that when
Paddy Chafevsky learned
George C. Scott would appear
in "The Hospital," he sat down
and wrote the "Power to the
Impotent" speech which was
the highlight of that film, got
Scott an Oscar nomination,
and a golden statuette for
Chafevsky.

Back to "The Hot Rock,"
however, where Segal's comic
flair is untapped, Redford
walks through the role (only
for the money folks), Leibman
and Sand don't have a chance
to expose their talents, and one
man attempts to save the film.

That man is Zero Mostel,
and his presence is a delight. As
Abe, father and lawyer to
Sand, he is abrasive, a
double-crosser, and funny as
hell. He manages to make his
walk with a cane a marvelous
bit of business which recalls
Chaplin's shuffle, yet looks
more like the waddle of an
obese goose.

Unfortunately, Mostel is a
minor character and doesn't
appear to help the film, and
Goldman's drawing of his
character is entirely out of
touch with the tone of the film.

Peter Yates' direction is a
disappointment. Having
directed "Bullit," I also had
expected better things from
Yates, but like Goldman's
script, the film could not
sustain a tempo, and seemed to
slowly dwindle away after the
first heist.

Actually, "petering-out" is
the whole problem with "The
Hot Rock"; if Goldman and
Yates had built the
impossibility and daring of
each crime, and devoted more
attention to comic lines and
situations, then a better film
could have resulted. I would
have chucked what I think was
an attempt at subtlety and
gone wild and made a spoof.

(Now at the Barracks Road)