Delicious caper comedy gets by thanks to a witty, clever story, sharp pacing, and superb acting. Scripted by William Goldman, based on the novel by Donald E. Westlake, it stars Robert Redford as Dortmunder, a career criminal just getting out of prison who's immediately persuaded by his cheerful brother-in-law Kelp (George Segal) to participate in a job. The task is to steal a rare, very large diamond for Dr. Amusa (Moses Gunn), an official representing a fictional African country who insists that the gem belongs to his people.The hook of Westlakes' tale is that nothing seems to go right for our museum robbing "heroes". One frustrating thing after another happens, and the diamond thieves are obliged to, among other things, stage a raid on a police station!Redford is aces as Dortmunder, who tries to keep his head up in the face of so much chaos, swearing that he won't let this job get the better of him. He, Segal, Ron Leibman as Murch, and Paul Sand as Greenberg make for a pretty fun team. The rock solid supporting cast also features William Redfield, Charlotte Rae, Graham Jarvis, Harry Bellaver, and Lee Wallace. While everybody does fine work, the film just gets even better with the introduction of the legendary Zero Mostel as a wily attorney who just so happens to be Greenbergs' father.It's very entertaining to watch as our four main characters try to deal with each problem as it comes up. The script is very funny, and while there's not a lot in the way of action, it's decently executed. Nice use of locations, too, and a nice music score composed by Quincy Jones, who persuaded 20th Century Fox to make note of the individual musicians on the soundtrack.Followed by "Bank Shot", with George C. Scott in the Dortmunder role.Eight out of 10.

The Hot Rock is Peter Yates' goofy, likable crime comedy about some goofy, likable crooks – all of them, in that small gang they forge, going through their own respective Hell in trying apprehend a diamond they've been employed to steal. The film works because of Yates' ability to keep things moving at the tremendous pace that he does, the film effectively a series of causality driven set pieces leading from one to the other as these guys try to come into possession of the Macguffin, of which each are as funny and as involving and as creative enough to make the film worth one's while. The text began life as a straight up heist novel; a leaner, meaner piece as penned by Donald Westlake sometime in the late 1960s to add to his already increasing canon of Parker (later Walker, then Porter, under various filmic guises) books that had been published. Yates plays it as a straight up caper comedy, without any slow; gradual; misplaced realisation that it's going to get nastier as things progress - it is very much the sort of film in which the lead crook is robbed of his watch, at knife-point, outside of a police station and in a very specific way that just makes it quite funny without necessarily being overly nasty.That lead crook is a certain John Dortmunder, played by Robert Redford in a role that predates The Sting by about a year; a man out on the streets after yet another prison stretch who is eyed within minutes of his release by his equally criminally minded brother-in-law Andy Kelp (Segal). The two men share an odd relationship; Kelp is this pink shirt wearing, rather highly-pitched voiced man whom takes a slap in the face from Dortmunder but humorously chases him down anyway via his car and pins him into a location so as to speak to him. Kelp is bringing Dortmunder into an operation organised by an African United Nations representative named Amusa (Gunn), a man who wants them to steal that of a diamond; the titular hot rock; a diamond which belonged to his forefathers but was stolen from them and that has since been thrust up into the air in terms of ownership, shifting possession from tribe to tribe and colonial master to colonial master like a free addition of a daily newspaper on a mainline. Presently, the diamond is there for the taking whilst inside of an exhibition at a New York museum.Amusa, despite being the man of distinction that he is, rejects the more modern; more regimented notions of paperwork and the courts to decide who's "tribe" or "side" the rightful owner of this jewel is, and has turned to a more old fashioned labour of theft and crime to take what he wants. Brought in, after Dortmunder reluctantly accepts the proposal, is a demolitions expert named Greenberg (Sand) and that of Murch (Leibman), a petrol-head if ever there was one, whose base of operation is right beside that of a highway featuring numerous lanes in each direction and whose recordings of car engines filling the room of his garage plays to him like beautiful music would to us. Schemes are cooked up and plans go awry; we marvel at the manner in which these people, clearly gifted in that art of thinking and deducing if it means swiping something that isn't theirs, concoct such audacious ideas, that come across as fail-proof before being put into action, only to unravel at their very seams in what is writing that takes time to build an idea before gleefully knocking back down again with escalated creativity.The film has a distinct charm to its proceedings, whether it's because of the fact we're asked to assume that a bunch of security guards can be fooled into thinking the bandits are trapped the other side of a door marked 'exit', or something else, remains somewhat elusive. The allure is in the processes the four leads go through; the wit and interplay they share between them, but always the creativity behind the concocting of audacious stunts to try and swing the tide back to their favour. Where immense pleasure is derived from the creativity therein of the writing of these people and their ideas they cook up, there is that masochistic ring to proceedings when it becomes prominent those in charge of such stamps of creativity are taking more pleasure in laying out the proverbial trail of elastic to trip these guys up than they are enjoying them get away with an ingenious idea. Never do we feel that these people are of the really hardened criminally minded sort, a notion the film plays with when, during one instance, the guys must act as exactly this in order to fool someone into thinking their life's in danger; the scene is played with a blind goofiness that keeps everything in check, these people are consistent to their behaviour and Yates to the tone of the film, but the piece is about a group of men going through some thoroughly inconsistent times, and our pleasures derived from watching them react to that is the point.

From time to time I get a craving for heist movies. And since I have seen most of the popular ones I always am on the search for other heist movies. While this small movie doesn't do anything spectacular I do consider this a classic. Robert Redford is very restrained and pretty serious in this movie. And this added to the hilarious events in the movie which you just have to see to believe it. At one time I even thought it was going to turn into a full mode slapstick comedy with no holds barred. But almost every actor remain straight faced and serious throughout the movie which only added to the fun experiencing this movie. "The Hot Rock" is a typical heist movie that only could have been made in the seventies. But even when the technological aspects in this movie seem outdated it never gets boring. Like any good heist movie you are rooting for the main characters to succeed especially when things don't go the way they planned. This movie has everything you want from a heist movie. And I find it rather strange that this movie is not so well known. A must watch!

Looked at now, this seems a very dated "buddy/caper" movie from the early 70's. Neither as suspenseful as "Topkapi" or as humorous as "The Pink Panther", it hopes to get by mainly on its star appeal, as personified by Robert Redford and hot-at-the-time George Segal. However there's not much acting to be had; with a script bereft of substantial dialogue and a fair smattering of time-consuming stunts, our two heroes mainly just get to bark at each other and mug at the lens, all the more surprising when you appreciate the screenplay is by William Goldman, late scriptor of "Butch Cassidy", the epitome of "buddy" movies and its little brother, the soon-come "The Sting". Segal is no Newman however and it's obvious that Redford is very much the main man here, but other than giving us his preferred profile, he's rarely exercised in a film that looks as if it was more fun to be in than to watch. The attempts at humour are forced, painfully at times, the supporting cast also exaggerate their playing, none more so than the choice hunk of ham that is Zero Mostel as the movie moves episodically and elephantinely to its even more improbable ending (a safe-deposit bank employee gets hypnotised by the floor-selection buttons in a lift...!). Quincy Jones' cod-jazz soundtrack, peopled as it is by heavyweight musicians like Gerry Mulligan and Clark Terry, doesn't help either. I could go on about the unfunny set-pieces of the botched robbery at the museum, attempts to fly a helicopter and the saw-it-coming-around-the-corner bluff which wrings the required confession out of Mostel's "Dishonest Abe" character but other than a passing hindsight discomfort at seeing a low-flying aircraft circling the under-construction World Trade Centre buildings, there's really very little to say one way or another. In fact the biggest laugh for me was unintentional - the gang's agreeing to pull off the heist for a measly $25000 each, the effect akin to Dr Evil's latter-day demand for $1,000,000 to stop him destroying the world in "Austin Powers". The 70's threw up some fine contemporary movies (many of which starred and were enhanced by Redford - "Three Days Of The Condor", "The Candidate" and "All The President's Men" to name but three). Here however he's coasting in a flaccid movie that does little for the reputations of cast and crew.