A sort-of sequel to caper flick extraordinaire The Hot Rock, directed by Hollywood choreographer Gower Champion, which sounds like an oddball appointment until you recall the balletic (or at the very least burlesque) nature of these high-concept bank-robbing schemes. George C Scott and pals take advantage of the temporary rehousing of a bank in a mobile home, by stealing the bank, and robbing it in a safe, out-of-the-way location. It’s a knowingly daft premise, but not the film’s only joker up the sleeve – Scott escapes from prison on a bulldozer, tailed by a police officer on a golf cart, and another chase scene is played out in reverse, for the sheer hell of it. And the film offers two stock ’70s bloated redneck character actors – Clifton ‘Live and Let Die’ James and Sorrell ‘Boss Hogg’ Booke – for the price of one.
Creamguide's Pick of the Day
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Top of the Pops
Thursday, 19.30, 01.05, BBC4For the first time in a while, two consecutive episodes, so it’s a completely different line-up to the last time and some belated debuts for Ian Dury and Sham 69 who we’d have otherwise seen two weeks ago, in a classic Pops juxtaposition with another Cilla flop and the first appearance of a record that, even skipping all the Savile and Travis episodes, you’re going to hear a hell of lot over the next few months.
While reading this, it suddenly occurred to me that the character of John Dortmunder is the place where the careers of Robert Redford, George C. Scott, and Martin Lawrence all meet. Even stranger all three of the the films are actually good . . .