HARRY AND WALTER GO TO NEW YORK

US, 1976, 111 minutes, Colour.
James Caan, Elliott Gould, Michael Caine, Diane Keaton, Charles Durning.
Directed by Mark Rydell.

Harry And Walter Go To New York is a rather delightful period robbery comedy with fine 1892 New York settings and costumes, and engaging performances by James Caan and Elliot Gould as a tandem of conmen actors. Michael Caine is present as a debonair millionaire-swindler and Diane Keaton as a liberal small-newspaper editor. Once more a bank is robbed, but most enjoyably by a motley group of would-be-do-gooders who want to beat the professionals at their own game. There is nothing particularly new, but it is all done so pleasantly that you will get some laughs and enjoy the robbery and all the difficulties on the way to its completion.

1. The quality of this robbery comedy? Its recreation of the period? Its derivation from others in the genre? Skill and originality?

2. The 1892 setting: New York, city, streets and banks. prison., theatre and Vaudeville, elegant restaurants etc.? How well did the film represent and recapture the period? From the point of view of the 20th century?

3. The use of widescreen, colour, costumes and sets, music? An atmosphere of authenticity?

4. The importance of the Vaudeville opening? The introduction to Harry and Walter-r? The lyrics of their song, song being used throughout the film, for the audition for Adam and the end? Each of them as individuals? The particular traits of their characters? Who led, who followed? The contribution to the schemes? The confidence tricks? Their skill in Vaudeville? Their style? Did they function effectively as a team? Their song and audience response? Their tricks and their stealing? Their arrest? Audience sympathy for them at the beginning of the film? How likeable?

5. The contrast with Adam: his restaurant style, his being confronted by the bank manager, the revelation that he was a crook, that he was a millionaire? The elegance of his arrest? His popularity with the aristocracy of New York? The celebrity going to jail and his entourage and his arrival? The prison authorities welcoming him? What made Adam tick? How well did he contrast with Harry and Walter?

6. The humour of the prison style: the satire on the prison authorities subservient to Adam. his set-up in his cell, the warden and his being invited to dinner. the headquarters for the plans for the robbery? How important was the interview with the lady? The tour of the prison? Her understanding of his character, the criticism? The encounter with Harry and Walter? The photo and the explosion?

7. The humour of Harry and Walter in jail? The contrast with Adam, their clothes, manner? The fact they were chosen to wait on him? Their style and their skill? Ingratiating themselves with Adam? Auditioning etc? The humour of their selling his hair? The humour of their getting the photo of the blueprints? The melodrama and humour of their escape? The scenes in the quarry. the nitro-glycerine, the parody of prison escape films?

8. Their going to New York, their being welcomed by the staff of the paper, their helping to sell it? Their ambitions for elegance dining in the restaurant? The satire in their not knowing how to taste the wine etc? The clash with Adam?

9. How plausible was the plot to rob the bank before the criminals? The various members of the paper group, the types, their lack of skill in robbing banks, the amorality of joining in the plot? The details of their work, the accidents of their success, overhearing the final plan, the build-up for the final robbery? The seeming failure, the success? How well did the film build suspense, the emphasis on details?

10. The contrast with Adam and his tunnel, his plan? The admission that he was a genius and yet he failed? The irony of his being arrested on the way in?

11. How humorous were the theatre sequences? The parody of old-time musicals? The singing, the plot and the costumes? The humour of the improvisations of Harry and Walter? Were these clever? The suspense of the robbery? The audience applause for Harry and Walter's style?

12. The character of the lascivious bank manager? His propositioning the Woman for the loan, the heroine propositioning him? Did he deserve to be robbed?

13. The elegance of the ending, their fear, turning into happiness?

14. How successful an example of the robbery genre, the period comedy, the confidence trick film? The highlights of the comedy, characters, the gallery of types, the situation? The insights into honesty and dishonesty, achievement and success, heroes and heroics? The light touch?