Um Golpe Muito Louco

Dino DeLaurentis' "The Brinks Job" actually holds an infamous place in Boston's cinematic history. In an attempt to distance itself from a cheap TV movie quickie (made to capitalize on the announcement of the big-budget film) director William Friedkin decided to shoot his version in Boston at the actual site of the crime -- the Brink's building -- long since converted into a neighborhood parking garage and available to rent out.

There had been a few movies shooting mostly exteriors in Boston in the 70s including the still locally remembered "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" in 1973. But "Brinks" was the largest production ever mounted with Friedkin completely shooting it in the Boston area. And because of what happened during the production, Hollywood avoided shooting anything of this size in Boston for 20 years!

When the movie trucks rolled in, the privateers descended. Suddenly, anything the movie company needed to buy was more expensive and the crew had to conceal who they were when purchasing goods and services. But the worst was what the Teamsters did.

The production wanted the key people of the film to be picked up by limos in the morning and brought back to their hotels in the evening. But the local Teamsters insisted that their drivers be paid to be standing by 24-hours a day, seven days a week which added $1 million to the film's budget. Two Teamster leaders were found guilty of racketeering and mail fraud and sentenced to jail time because of this shake-down. It was learned the Teamsters had been doing this to films shot in Boston for the previous 10 years.

Additionally, the film's Boston production office was held up by armed gunmen who made off with 15 reels of film which were held for $600,000 in ransom. The thieves later lowered their demand to $500,000, but were told over the phone by Friedkin that the footage was duplicates and they could keep them.

Word filtered back to Hollywood to avoid Boston and for nearly 20 years major productions skipped the city and used other places like Philadelphia to stand in for Boston. "A Civil Action" in 1997 represented a turning point and since then the city and the state of Massachusetts cleaned up their act and even sought out film productions by offering an unlimited 25% tax incentive.

Today, Boston and Massachusetts are bustling with more than 30 productions a year with three sound stage facilities and more planned for the area. But in the '80s and most of the '90s, the city was a no-man's land for movies as it paid the price for profiteering off "The Brinks Job."

William Friedkin directs this period heist black comedy based on true facts and it is very different from the rest of his output.

Peter Falks plays Tony Pino a small time Boston petty crook. Even after being released from jail he and his bumbling gang which includes brother in law Vinnie (Allen Garfield) struggle to pull off a decent job such as robbing a bubble gum factory.

Pino notices that the local Brink's warehouse has lax security. When he cases the joint he notices that Brink's is too stingy to spend money in having a decent security system and he can just walk in. Their promotion of having an impregnable fortress is just baloney.

In 1950 Pino and his men stole over a million dollars in cash. FBI director J Edgar Hoover (Sheldon Leonard) took a personal interest in the robbery thinking it was the work of communists. He spent $25 million to try to apprehend the gang.

Friedkin displays a lightness of touch but the script has paper thin characters. The comedy and the heist needed more emphasis such as in the Italian film Persons Unknown, later remade by Louis Malle as Crackers. The casting of Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands harks back to the John Cassavetes dramas.

In 1938 Boston, petty criminal Tony Pino (Peter Falk) and his robbery gang get caught. In 1944, his friend Joe McGinnis (Peter Boyle) picks him up after getting released from prison. He rejoins wife Mary (Gena Rowlands). He gets a new crew which includes idiot brother-in-law Vinnie (Allen Garfield), disturbed war veteran Specs O'Keefe (Warren Oates), and Jazz Maffie (Paul Sorvino). The bumbling crew struggles to rob a candy factory. Tony passes by Brink's and is enticed by the cash. He talks into the warehouse and copies a key. The crew starts stealing from the trucks but no one seems to catch on. They realize the careless security and robs the vault for $1 million. The large amount and notoriety draws in J. Edgar Hoover (Sheldon Leonard).

It's a fine period heist movie from William Friedkin. There's a bit of fun. This is not a high functioning crew. It could easily turn into a more slapstick comedy than it already is. There are some great idiocy like Specs suggesting blasting the vault with a bazooka. There are bits and pieces of goodness but I'm less enamored with the last section. It becomes a muddle as the crew is gathered up. The action is lost and I can't figure out each character. Normally, the action would go bigger into the climax. I do have respect for going the other way including Mary casually making dinner for the cops.

Words almost fail me in talking about how much I love this film, this very funny, very stylish portrayal of what was considered the robbery of the last century.

First of all it could never have been done earlier. J. Edgar Hoover was not a figure to be satirized before May of 1972 when he breathed his last. Sheldon Leonard who plays him here and has him get it all wrong about who pulled the Brink's Armored Car Robbery, would not have taken the role, neither would any other actor. No one wanted to be on that man's bad side. Hoover was not quite the figure you see Leonard play here, though Leonard is fine in the part. Books and films subsequent to his death still really haven't got it quite right about him.

For all of J. Edgar's fulminations about the great Communist conspiracy at work in the Brink's job, the whole point of The Brink's Job is who actually did it. Six very ordinary street criminals, none of them violent felons in any way and one fence who declared himself in on the job.

The group is headed by Peter Falk who should have been Oscar nominated for his portrayal of Tony Pino, the group's leader and planner. You see The Brink's Job, Peter Falk will remain with you forever. A man without complications and hangups, he's a thief because it's his profession. He does have pride in how good he is though.

Some of Falk's best scenes are with his wife Gena Rowlands. She too is a woman who stands by her man. No doubt they came from the same hardscrabble background in Boston's Italian North End and she's completely supportive of him and his work. In particular I love the scene where she's bidding him off to work just like any other wife who's husband had a night job. Don't forget your screwdriver, here's a sandwich in case you get hungry, the scene is priceless.

I also love the scene in the restaurant where he takes her after a nice score. Falk is at the height of his considerable talents as he tells Rowlands of his plans for the Brink's Armored Car Company.

What everyone will love when they see this film is how comparatively easy it was for these knockabout guys from Boston to accomplish stealing over 4 million dollars. This score was so big, it HAD to be the work of a master criminal mind. The thing is it was, the mind was just not in a body where you would expect it to be found.

The others in the mob are Paul Sorvino, Kevin O'Connor, Warren Oates, Gerard Murphy and Peter Boyle who plays the fence. But my favorite in the mob and in the film is Allen Garfield who plays Falk's brother-in-law and sidekick who Falk keeps around for laughs. They have an Abbott&Costello like relationship with everything Garfield touches turning to waste product. My favorite scene in the whole film is when they decide to rob a gum factory payroll. Poor Garfield accidentally presses the wrong switch and he's awash in gumballs. Falk's and Sorvino's differing reactions are priceless.

A lot of the film was shot in Boston which in many ways is a city that tries more than most to keep it's traditional look. I haven't been in that city in about five years, but I daresay you could remake The Brink's Job today in the same area.

But if you did it wouldn't be as good, that isn't possible.

Compared to the hyped up, over violent fare that passes for crime movies, this movie is no contender. But it's a warm, funny, well paced caper flick about some North Boston Italians who stumbled on to the fact that the great Brink's was a paper tiger.