$S (THE HEIST)
US, 1971, 121 Minutes, Colour.
Warren Beatty, Goldie Hawn, Gert Frobe, Robert Webber, Scott Brady.
Directed by Richard Brooks.
$ (The Heist) shows robbery comedies are still with us. This one originally called $, is bigger than most - in the money stolen, ingenuity, complicated plans, comic capers and final chase. Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn are the "brains" behind the Heist, but writer-director Richard Brooks is behind it all, perhaps trying too hard to make it the breeziest, cleverest, breathless, film of its kind. Give the film twenty minutes or so to work out who is who, and who is up to what.
It seems to be making some comment on robbery, money and greed, but the main thing is the plot, made for easy entertainment.
1. The place of this film in the genre of crime capers and robberies? How much did it rely on the conventions of the genre? How was it different? An emphasis on the style of the robbery, skill, the type of money taken and the implications for social justice and the police?
2. The tone of the title, the credits with the dollar sign, the song recurring throughout the film, the night club act with its linking of strippers with money?
3. How important was the atmosphere of Germany? The technical and technological background? The techniques and the efficiency? As a place for drug trafficking and the story of hot money?
4. Colour photography and locations? Music? The importance of the stars and their appeal? The set piece of the robbery, the climatic chase?
5. The introduction of the film with the rehearsal of security measures? The introduction to banks, the tone of the film, Mr. Kessell, a man to be tricked? The introduction to Joe Collins and his work and his attitudes?
6. Joe Collins as a Warren Beatty character? An American, his work in Europe, his plans, motivation? The importance of his set speeches, especially to Mr. Kessell about the nature of banks, robberies and security? His speech to Dawn about money, the dishonesty of society?
7. The character of Joe Collins and the attention to detail? His plans, his preparation for the robbery? The selection of the victims and the reliance on Dawn? The implications of violence, especially at the night club and with the drug peddling and the prostitutes? The detailed build-up to the plan and his part in its execution?
8. Dawn and Goldie Hawn? The humorous light-headed character? The dumb blonde type? Her Las Vegas and Hollywood background? Sexuality, clients? The sequence with the Las Vegas man as the fireman etc.? Her participation in the robbery? Her amoral approach? Her fears and apprehension? Her phone call to Kessell, her participation in the plan and its success? Her exhilaration in recuperating the money?
9. The presentation of the victims: the ugly side of the American army with its emphasis on patriotism and yet its exploitation? The Las Vegas types? The drug pusher and murderer? The types involved in these crimes, murders, greed? The effectiveness of their combination in pursuit? Their deaths?
10. Mr. Kessell as the humorous manager, as a type, as the hero with television and the breaking through the door?
11. The tension and drama and humour of the sequence of the transferring of the money and the drilling? The nature of the film's editing for pace?
12. Why were the pursuit sequences so long? How plausible? How effective?
13. The appropriateness of the ending for this kind of film?
14. The perspective of the modern world with its observations on society, individuals within society, money and wealth, honesty and dishonesty, exploitation, good and evil and justice?
