Donald E Westlake's series of Parker novels (written under the pseudonym, Richard Stark) has been a rich source of material for filmmakers and the author's hard-boiled anti-hero has an appeal that seems to transcend time. Curiously, in most of the movies, Parker's name has been changed with him featuring as Walker in "Point Blank" (1967), Macklin in "The Outfit" (1973) and Porter in "Payback" (1999). In "The Split" he appears as McClain (Jim Brown), a professional thief who returns to L.A. after an absence of some years to work with his old friend Gladys (Julie Harris) in planning a major football stadium robbery.With their plan formulated and Gladys providing the financial backing, McClain identifies some possible recruits for their gang and puts each one through a challenge to make sure that they have the skills required to carry out the heist successfully. Tough guy, Bert Clinger (Ernest Borgnine), getaway driver Harry Kifka (Jack Klugman), safe-cracker Marty Gough (Warren Oates) and hit-man Dave Negli (Donald Sutherland) all come up to standard and the robbery of the ticket money from a sold-out Rams game at the L.A. Coliseum is soon put into action.The brilliantly-executed heist enables the gang to make off with more than $500,000 which McClain leaves with his ex-wife Ellie (Diahann Carroll). She agrees to keep the loot in her apartment and he intends to split the money between everyone in the gang on the following day. This arrangement hits an unforeseen problem when Ellie's lecherous landlord Herb Sutro (James Whitmore), tries to rape her, before killing her and stealing the money. Detective Lieutenant Walter Brill (Gene Hackman) soon deduces who'd killed Ellie and after shooting Sutro takes the stolen money which he then keeps in his own possession.None of the gang-members believe that the stolen money has simply disappeared and after having been subjected to some vicious treatment, McClain manages to escape and then co-operates with Brill on a violent course of action which enables them both to achieve their personal objectives.The 1960s was a low-point in the history of film noir primarily because the style was not really compatible with the general optimism of that decade. "The Split" is one of the best noir offerings of the period because of its plot (which begins routinely but really comes to life in third act), its well-directed action sequences and Burnett Guffrey's wonderful cinematography. It also boasts a superb cast of actors who are all excellent individually and collectively.Jim Brown's McClain is interesting because in the earlier parts of the movie he seems to be a natural leader with a quiet authority but his actions after he co-operates with Brill, bring out another aspect of his character which is both surprising and credible. Warren Oates provides the pick of the supporting performances, the high-point of which is a hilarious scene in a bar where he gets picked up by a prostitute. Quincy Jones' score and the title song by Billy Preston are also enjoyable and very much in keeping with the time in which the story's set.

Richard Stark's novel "The Seventh" becomes a great-looking all-star heist flick with a football backdrop which, unfortunately, completely falls apart in the final quarter. Drifting thief, apparently a genius at concocting schemes and rounding up partners, comes up with a brilliant plan to rob the cash-office at the Los Angeles Coliseum during a football game. Selecting his ex-con cohorts by means of making them display their muscles (not especially their skills) is rather perplexing, though it works for the movie. What doesn't work is a sharp left turn in the narrative about an hour into the proceedings, with an absolutely unbelievable (and unforgivable) turn of events pitting the robbers against each other. This ridiculous third act smacks of desperation, and leaves Gene Hackman (as a somewhat dirty detective) with nothing but absurdity to play opposite. The rest of the cast does well until the screenplay drops the ball, and Burnett Guffey's cinematography is first-rate. *1/2 from ****

The Split starts as career criminal Mac McClain (Jim Brown) arrives back in Los Angeles, there he hooks up with his ex-wife Ellie (Diahann Carroll) & his associate Gladys (Julie Harris). Mac says he needs 'a big job' & Gladys tells him about a plan she has to steal half a million dollars in takings from the 80,000 plus seater Colleseum football stadium during the match between the Los Angeles Rams & the Green Bay Packers, the match has no advance ticket sales so every seat has to be paid for in cash on the day at the gate. Mac likes the idea & sets out recruiting a gang to pull it off, the muscle is supplied by Bert Clinger (Ernest Borgnine), the wheel man is Harry Kifka (Jack Klugman), the weapons man & shooter is Dave Negli (Donald Sutherland) & the professional hi-tech thief, lock picker & safe-cracker is Marty Gough (Warren Oates). Everything is prepared & the day of the heist arrives...Directed by Gordon Flemyng this late 60's crime heist action thriller is unfairly rather obscure but is worth the effort to track a copy down, although you can compare The Split to The Italian Job (1969) since they are both 60's heist films The Split was made & released a year before. The script by Robert Sabaroff was based on the novel 'The Seventh' by Donald E. Westlake can be divided into three chunks, the first third of the film revolves around the recruiting of the team with some fun set-pieces to make sure each member is up to the task, the second third of the film is my favourite when they carry out the heist & there's that feeling that you root for them & you want to get away with it & all the close calls they have & watching the plan unfold is pretty fun, then the final third of the film is perhaps the weakest as several random events come together & tear the thieves apart & it becomes a rather dull runaround after the money which goes missing through no fault of their own but does obviously cause problems as they don't know who to trust. That's about it really. I would have been happy if The Split had ended after the gang had stolen the money & got away with it but there's this tacked on ending a lot of which feels very random, like how did Ellie's landlord know she had the money? Why leave the money in such an exposed place? Then there's the ending when everyone gets shot & it just all seems rather pointless. The plot wouldn't work now of course, what with the amount of CCTV's & security, the fact a lot of people pay by credit card & I don't understand why the gang don't try to cover their faces. They rob the place without any mask's or gloves so if the hostages don't identify them their finger prints surely would? For such a well planned robbery that's quite a big oversight, isn't it?Director Flemyng does a good job, he keeps the film moving along & it always feels like something is happening. The character's are also very good with each member of the gang having a distinct personality & getting at least a few minutes screen time to develop it although McClain is hard to like as the lead character since he only seems interested in serving himself. The Split was apparently the first film to be given an 'R' rating by the MPAA thanks to some fun fights, a few shoot-outs, a bit of mild bad language (although the 'N' word is used here in a casual fashion, something unthinkable these days especially when the IMDb flags it as a 'Prohibited Word' as I have just found out...) & a bit of blood. There's also a neat car chase here as well. It's somewhat surprising that The Split is such an obscure film with it's crowd pleasing heist plot & the top drawer cast but it is, last night I saw a full widescreen 2:35:1 Panavision print of this & while the colours were a bit washed out & a bit pastel it looked very nice.Technically the film is very good, it has good production values, good stunt work & nice cinematography. The one aspect of The Split I don't like is the music, it's horrible & dates the film more than anything else in it. Damn, just look at that cast. There aren't many films that boast a cast as good as The Split. Jim Brown, Ernest Borgnine, Julie Harris, Warren Oates, the peerless Jack Klugman, Donald Sutherland & Gene Hackman. The acting is top notch from one of the best cast of character actors your ever likely to see in the same film.The Split is a good heist film that starts out like The Italian Job but goes in a significantly darker direction although not to the films overall benefit in my opinion. I liked it as a one time watch & the cast are great but I am not sure I would want to see it again anytime soon.

Star and a half Maltin review is a bit discouraging for watching THE SPLIT. And yet it`s great to say that Maltin is horribly wrong in his case, sibce THE SPLIT delivers loads of cool soft-noir.Gordon Flemyng, the British film and TV veteran shapes a posh and groovy heist flick about a post robbery split gone bad. The cast is masterful, Jim Brown does a great Wastlake/Stark character up there with Lee Marvin in POINT BLANK and Mel Gibson in THE PAYBACK. The rest of the cast includes such hard-asses like Gene Hackman, Donald Sutherland, Warren Oates and Ernest Borgnine. So the movie emanates great energy on screen and Flemyng cuts it with typical British elegance, smart and sharp decisions. Maybe THE SPLIT felt too calculated to Maltin, but to me, it represents the era when Hollywood entertainment still managed to assuredly deliver the authentic exploitation of a formula.