Le lion sort ses griffes

Picture this: Burt Reynolds is at a decadent party. He spies Leslie-Anne Down in a sequined black dress and is determined to meet her. Neither of them speak, until at last, Burt opens his mouth and does his best Cary Grant impersonation. She smiles and asks, "Why are you doing Tony Curtis?" If you laughed just now, you'll like Rough Cut.

Burt catches Leslie stealing diamonds at the party, and he surreptitiously steals them from her a few minutes later. To get them back, she follows him back to his apartment and tries to stealthily rob him. Sparks fly, and he asks her on a date. In the next scene, she visits Chief Inspector David Niven; it turns out, she's cooperating with the police to catch Burt, a notorious jewel thief!

Rough Cut is a constant game of cat-and-mouse and who's-playing-who, so if you like those types of movies, you'll love this one. It's funny and full of twists and turns in the plot-and everyone is easy to root for! Rent this for a cute date night with your sweetie pie; it'll be a lot of fun.

An effortless superbly timed performance by Burt Reynolds ('Sam Whiskey' (1969), ('Deliverance' (1972)) as a genial, wise-cracking mustachioed jewel-thief at large in London and Amsterdam. It was NME's Ian Penman who wrote in an eighties article that Reynolds' American thespian flair acting was akin to that of a 'Rolls-Royce'.

In his long lists of wonderful movies, Mr. David Niven has given audiences some real gems, this is among those which did not market very well, but has become a notable jewel. Niven plays an English Inspector who has tallied a great number of criminals. One however has continued to elude him for twenty years. Mr Jack Rhodes (Burt Reynolds) is the one Jewel thief he hopes to arrest before he is forced into retirement. To do that he extorts the services of Gillian Bromley (Lesley-Anne Down) another jewel thief. Her task is to lure Rhodes into a heist with a snare. The movie, Directed by Don Siegel, has many copy-cats such as 'jack of Diamonds' 'Entrapment' and 'Thomas Crown Affair.' In each is danger, interest and romance, but with this version, comedy become the additional element. Reynolds and Niven work well together and in doing so carry this film well. With good character actors like Patrick Magee and Timothy West, the story written by Larry Gelbart (MASH) fits well for all fans. As a result Reynolds and Niven create amusing fanfare for everybody. ****

Solid film that has multiple people working together to pull off a jewel heist. David Niven is good, and Burt Reynolds breaks out of his "Smokey" types role and does something more sophisticated. Very much on the Oceans mold, though not as good. I always enjoy catching it on TV, fun film with some unexpected twists and turns.

Cat burglar Jack Rhodes (Burt Reynolds) is at a high class party to steal jewels only to be scooped by Gillian Bromley (Lesley-Anne Down). He is immediately taken with her. He recruits her into his gang for a big job. She is actually a secret informer sent by Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Cyril Willis (David Niven).

Burt is trying to get by with his natural charms. It works to some extent but this movie is doomed from the start. Gillian working for Cyril should have been revealed much later. Gillian revealing that to Jack is even more problematic. One of the bad results is the lack of caper planning. That's one of the joys of a caper movie. The characters have fun planning and setting it all up. Instead, we're left with only Burt and Lesley frolicking and doing next to nothing. Any fun with the beginning gets slowly drained away. Another result from the lack of planning fun is not following the caper. First it's a plane chase and then it's a car chase. I don't think the caper actually makes sense and the final twist makes it complete non-sense. All that is left is an extremely charming Burt Reynolds.