Como ser um Bom Ladrão

What makes this buddy crime comedy work rests essentially on it's sympathetic characters. Delivered here in traditional veteran/rookie fashion,the story paces along steadily as young and endearingly misguided Mike (Siemaszko) is given life lessons in the art of safe cracking by world-weary professional Earl (Reynolds). The chemistry between the two leads allows for cleverly-conceived comedic scenes to shine forth beautifully. From the moment of their initial accidental meet-up, you are instantly hooked. The film's best quality though is it's ironic approach to burglary, for Earl talks of "The Job" as though it were a viable career option! This is Sayles' savvy screenplay technique undoubtedly shining through. Guided by Forsyth's refined direction, this comedy never veers into slapstick, distinguishing it from the later inferior 'Safe Men'. It never strives to be what it isn't, and so it rarely disappoints. A similarly-styled, yet darker film worthy of viewing is Saul Rubinek's 'Jerry and Tom'.

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Pardon my pun above, but if there's any reason at all to try and catch Breaking In, Burt Reynolds is the main reason. He underplays Ernie, a veteran safe cracker who goes about his business being low key and certainly not flashy at all. He winds up teaming up with a youngster named Mike, played by Casey Siemaszko, who rejuvenates Ernie and he hires him as an apprentice for odd jobs cracking safes. The first half of the forgotten film is the better half because of Reynolds' performance as the aging thief, and is both sympathetic and funny, especially the scenes he's teaching Mike the ropes. It's unfortunate Burt passed up on many good movie roles because the man can act. Anyhow, the latter half of Breaking In revolves around how flashy Mike has become with his cash rewards and his hooker/on and off girlfriend, which I thought slowed the film down a bit. I found Carrie annoying and uninteresting and rather selfish; not sure what Mike saw in her.

Watch this film mainly for Reynolds' performance, as he plays his role convincingly and develops decent chemistry with Mike. Siemaszko also plays his role well, but not quite up to par with his partner in crime.

Even though I appreciate Burt's bombastic,snide,cocky,gum chewing persona of old it was fun seeing him as vulnerable and pragmatic. I love caper movies and even though this one is tongue-in-cheek it is quite entertaining. I especially love the cat-burglar genre. Siemaszcko does a nice job of combining the youthful and arrogant with the need for those "coming up" to learn from a mentor. The movie doesn't take itself seriously but provides a good relationship story. Alot of fun if you just let it happen to you without analyzing every aspect. If you liked Siemaszcko in this check him out in Young Guns, and 3 o'clock high.

Burt Reynolds successfully ends a rather slow 1980's with a surprisingly good character part in this 1989 Samuel Goldwyn Pictures release. He portrays a veteran professional thief and safecracker who teaches a young novice how to be like him. Amusing crime caper.

Burt Reynolds has had a very shaky career. Truth be told he has made far more bad movies than he has good movies. I personally believe it is because of very poor choices, such as , lame cop movies, smokey and the bandit sequels and both cannonball run flicks. However, amongst the very large pile of "ruff" this movie is a real diamond. His character of "Earnie", the gruff but lovable experienced thief taking a young naive kid under his wing trying to teach him the ropes and tricks of the trade is done with such subtle depth by Reynolds, that it caught me completely and delightfully offgaurd. When you think about it, this was not a big budget movie and Burt gives a fantastic performance just like he does in "Boogie Nights", which is also not a big budget film. Yet when it is a huge budget movie, Reynolds tends to give rather unispired and perfunctory performances. Maybe he should stick with these indie flicks more often.