El atraco al estadio

Near the beginning of this film, there is a fistfight, but it's not exciting because we don't know why the two men are fighting. A little later, there is a car chase, but it's not exciting either, because we don't know who's chasing whom or why. Later still, we find out the answers to those questions, but two potentially good action scenes have been wasted. And then the movie turns into a standard heist flick....thankfully only for a while. The focus here is not on the actual heist, but more on the aftermath. And it's there that the movie finally goes in unexpected directions.

There is, for example, the bizarre scene in which a man gets off on shooting someone with a machine-gun. There is the memorable image of a white sheet that gradually "absorbs" the blood of the body that's underneath it, and red spots start appearing on it. And there some neat plot twists along the way, mostly involving a character (I won't say which) that enters the picture when you least expect him to.

If the whole movie was as good as its final 30 minutes, I'd give it one more star, but for now this gets a ** rating.

This movie had everything necessary for a great movie but fell short while still an entertaining flick. The amazing cast features early performances by Jim Brown, Gene Hackman and Donald Sutherland. Other stars include Ernest Borgnine, Jack Klugman and Julie Harris. How could this go wrong? The plot centers around a heist which is reminiscent of The Killing but replaces the racetrack with a football stadium (Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum). The action is mostly good though perhaps slightly overboard at times. The story is largely believable though the scenes with Brown's girlfriend are at times problematic though not insurmountable. There are some other issues with the script but not major dealbreakers. Things get a little sloppy in the second half and the director tries to tie it all together in a rushed knot at the end which brings the movie down a notch. This is really must-see for any Gene Hackman fan since it is one of his earlier roles and he shows all of the character traits which made him a great star. Mostly, this film has some appealing parts namely in the way of its stars but too many little flaws which are emblematic of the time period when films were getting sloppier.

The books of crime novelist Donald Westlake (usually writing as "Richard Stark") have made for some fairly interesting movies for almost half a century now. The first real one was in 1967, when his novel "The Hunter" was the basis for the John Boorman-directed cult classic POINT BLANK (with Lee Marvin); and there have been others: THE HOT ROCK (with George Segal and Robert Redford, from 1972); THE OUTFIT (with Robert Duvall and Robert Ryan, released in 1974); and BANK SHOT (with George C. Scott, also released in 1974).

And then there's 1968's THE SPLIT.

Based on Westlake's book "The Seventh", the film is a classically themed Hollywood heist film, involving a group of thieves robbing the cash office at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during a playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Atlanta Falcons. Former NFL legend Jim Brown, who turned to acting after retiring from the Cleveland Browns in 1965 and became a star in Robert Aldrich's 1967 classic THE DIRTY DOZEN, is the leader of this group that includes his fellow DIRTY DOZEN cast members Donald Sutherland and Ernest Borgnine; Jack Klugman (one of the jurors in the 1957 classic TWELVE ANGRY MEN); and veteran character actor Warren Oates. The heist goes off with almost laser-like perfection, but it's what happens thereafter--the complications; the screw-ups; and the betrayals--that are the real payoff. Gene Hackman, who had at the time recently leaped to acting prominence as a result of his role in BONNIE AND CLYDE, portrays a seedy Los Angeles cop (perhaps presaging his Oscar-winning turn in THE FRENCH CONNECTION); and Diahann Carroll and Julie Harris are the women involved. James Whitmore plays a superbly seedy landlord at Carroll's apartment.

By 21st century standards, this must seem terribly old-fashioned: there are no hyper-violent, over-the-top stunts, no CGI bloodshed, or any of that extraneous junk. And this is clearly a film of the late 1960s, in terms of costumes, hairstyles, and all of that—this and, of course, the fact that the Rams were L.A.'s pro-football team too. And yet, even though it doesn't necessarily stand out among the many great crime heist films, from Stanley Kubrick's THE KILLING to Sam Peckinpah's THE GETAWAY, or even the 1988 blockbuster DIE HARD, there's still something hugely fascinating about THE SPLIT, in terms of the way suspense is built up. Perhaps part of the reason it isn't as well-known as it should be is that the director, British-born Gordon Flemyng, was not a known entity, save for a couple of episodes of the TV series "The Avengers", and the 1965's DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS. All the same, though, the cast still does well under Flemyng's direction, with very good cinematography by Burnett Guffey (who won an Oscar for BONNIE AND CLYDE), and a taut, early action film music score by Quincy Jones, who had done major work on THE PAWNBROKER, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, and IN COLD BLOOD. This was also the first film to be released following the establishment of the movie ratings system by the MPAA where the for-adults 'R' rating was placed, even though it is closer to a 'PG-13' rating by today's ultra-violent standards.

Imperfect and dated as it is at times, I'd still give THE SPLIT a '7' rating, simply because of the surface pleasures of the piece.

After football great Jim Brown died recently, I decided to watch two of his films he made after retiring from the sport that made him famous. I've long been interested in watching this one because I found out it was the first one to be rated R after the Motion PIcture Association of America (now simply reduced to Motion Picture Association) started doing the letter ratings system. R at the time meant that "no one under 16 admitted without parent or adult guardian" only raising the age limit to 17 two years later. Anyway, Brown ends up planning a heist of the box office earnings from a football game with Donald Sutherland, Ernest Borgnine (two of Brown's previous co-stars from The Dirty Dozen), Warren Oates, Jack Klugman, and Julie Harris in on the action. Diahann Carroll is his leading lady and Gene Hackman is a police detective on the trail. I liked most of the goings-on most of the time though I admit some scenes confused me. But The Split was really intriguing to me especially when Quincy Jones' score was used. So I recommend The Split for anyone looking for one of Jim Brown's early films. Next, I'll review him in El Condor.

Star and a half Maltin review is a bit discouraging for watching THE SPLIT. And yet it`s great to say that Maltin is horribly wrong in his case, sibce THE SPLIT delivers loads of cool soft-noir.

Gordon Flemyng, the British film and TV veteran shapes a posh and groovy heist flick about a post robbery split gone bad. The cast is masterful, Jim Brown does a great Wastlake/Stark character up there with Lee Marvin in POINT BLANK and Mel Gibson in THE PAYBACK. The rest of the cast includes such hard-asses like Gene Hackman, Donald Sutherland, Warren Oates and Ernest Borgnine. So the movie emanates great energy on screen and Flemyng cuts it with typical British elegance, smart and sharp decisions.

Maybe THE SPLIT felt too calculated to Maltin, but to me, it represents the era when Hollywood entertainment still managed to assuredly deliver the authentic exploitation of a formula.