The Bank Shot

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?

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.

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.

"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.

Scott cringes when this film is brought up and rightly so; it's one of those capers that start all stops out, but then have nowhere else to go. Gags that have potential and a cast that could have worked a little harder, but the biggest problem was the amatuerish script and the obvious look of boredom on the face of star Scott. If you didn't want to do the film...why did you sign on for it?

I'd like to know.