The Hot Rock

Director Peter Yates

ensemble cast photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE  HOT ROCK      B                                                                                                               USA  (101 mi)  1972  ‘Scope  d: Peter Yates

A somewhat quirky comedy of errors movie that is a combination of character study and heist film gone wrong that got poor reviews at the time of its release, yet is something of a hidden gem to watch, offering a time capsule of Manhattan in the early 1970’s, with an aerial helicopter shot that beautifully merges the Hudson River with New York City skyscrapers, providing ample evidence of the still-under-construction twin towers of the World Trade Center buildings clearly seen when they were nearing completion.  With more than a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit, specializing in crime fiction, Donald E. Westlake had been providing material for some of the better American thrillers for years, usually centered around a single character, where he is perhaps best-remembered for creating two professional master thief criminal characters who each starred in a long-running book series with over a dozen books, starting with the relentless, hardboiled Parker, published under the pen name Richard Stark, where his 1962 novel The Hunter was the source material for John Boorman’s Point Blank (1967), later introducing the more stoic and notably pessimistic John Dortmunder, where bad luck seems to find him, developing the reputation of being jinxed, allowing the author to explore greater aspects of unexpected humor.  Written in 1970, adapted for the movie by heralded screenwriter William Goldman, this was the first of the Dortmunder novels, the protagonist of 14 novels and 11 short stories published between 1970 and 2009, a character known for his careful and meticulous planning, where there’s literally nothing he can’t steal, yet he’s twice been convicted of burglary, where hanging over his head is the knowledge that a third conviction will mean that he will be sent back to prison for the rest of his life with no chance of parole.  Yet moments after his release from his second stint in prison, he’s already plotting the masterplan for a new crime.  According to Westlake, this started out as one of his darker Parker novels, but that “it kept turning funny.”  Essentially a story involving a precious gem that is stolen, lost, reacquired, stolen again, lost again, becoming a revolving door of utter futility, featuring a likable yet bumbling cast of characters, where despite their best efforts, something always seems to go wrong.  In the eyes of British director Peter Yates, who had a short-lived career as as a professional race car driver, he actually preferred this movie to the much more acclaimed Bullitt (1968), proving there’s just no accounting for taste, yet this film accentuates characters who, “like many people, plan things all their lives and never have it work out.”  While the film was surprisingly nominated for an Academy Award for best editing, what stands out is the eloquent and sophisticated quality of the jazz score composed by Quincy Jones, where each of the musicians are listed in the end credits, an unheard of practice at the time. 

Robert Redford plays Dortmunder, having recently learned the trade of plumbing while in prison, met on the outside in a stolen Cadillac by his perky brother-in-law Andy Kelp, George Segal, a locksmith whose cheerful optimism is the polar opposite of Dortmunder’s dour reticence, schmoozing up to him while making immediate suggestions, as a giant African diamond, the Sahara Stone, is currently on display in the Brooklyn Museum, the crown jewel of a former British colony that was recently granted independence and split into two nations, remaining a bone of contention between two rival African nations, unfortunately claimed by both ever since it was stolen during colonial days.  Hired by an unscrupulous United Nations ambassador representing one of the countries, Dr. Amusa (Moses Gunn), Dortmunder hires his team, including Kelp, of course, explosives expert Allan Greenberg (Paul Sand), learning his trade at the Sorbonne and from esteemed college campuses across the country known for expressing political dissent, and the gang’s driver, Stan March (a memorably over-the-top Ron Leibman), a jack-of-all trades who can drive anything, living at home with his cab-driver mother (Charlotte Rae), where his life is consumed by cars, yet his happiest moment is listening to audio LP recordings of the revving engines racing by from the Indianapolis 500 race for relaxation, and virtually every conversation he has includes a wildly detailed account of his most recent excursions in his car.  Despite careful planning, something always goes wrong, and the group must steal the diamond all over again, as the list of items needed keep accumulating expenses, yet the inventive aspects of each heist grow wildly imaginative, where the preposterousness of their daring acts is extraordinary to behold, becoming the template (along with the Ratpack’s original version of OCEAN’S 11 in 1960) for Soderbergh’s Ocean's film series (2001 – 2007), with an all-female spinoff in 2018, along with a host of other heist flicks, becoming an elaborate choreography of outlandish criminal acts mixed with well-known celebrities, recognized for displaying stellar ensemble casts.  The real flavor of this film is just how unlikely the personalities mesh, as they all kind of get on each other’s nerves, yet they’re all skilled at what they do.  Dortmunder, as the master planner, gets no more than the rest, each one distinguishing themselves in their roles, so it’s a carefully calibrated operation where everyone gets an equal share, yet the atmospheric jazz music gives this a cool, laid-back vibe, where the whole thing looks effortless.  The 70’s was a terrific era of American films, (In '70s, movies were more daring, real - Chicago Tribune), with many scholars claiming it was the greatest decade overall due to the arrival of a new young crop of directors, not only New Hollywood, but around the world.  Adding to the illustrious mix of Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas would be new talents like Hal Ashby and Alan J. Pakula, Sidney Lumet and Robert Altman, Barbara Loden and Elaine May, John Cassavetes and David Lynch, Gordon Parks and Melvin van Peebles, along with German New Wave legends Rainier Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, and Werner Herzog, just to name a few. 

In an interview with Daily Blender back in 2017, Steven Soderbergh offered some insight into his Ocean’s films, An Interview with Steven Soderbergh | Daily Blender.  “There’s no rational reason why, as a kid, what I would call caper movies would have such an appeal to me.  But they always did.  There’s a great film called ‘The Hot Rock.’  It’s really good.  Robert Redford, 1972.  It’s hilarious.  You’ll see how much of an influence it was on the Ocean’s films.  That sense of humor.  I just like them.  That kind of humor and a sort of puzzle.  It’s something that movies are good for.”  When the film tanked at the box office, Redford blamed it on the British director, known for making action movies, contending this is a small, character-driven comedy filled with American humor that had a difficult time resonating onscreen.  Not so sure that’s true at all, as this is a comedy of misdirection, providing some zany, off-the-wall heists, carried out to perfection, yet something invariably goes wrong, something impossible to plan for, reality perhaps.  They’re such smooth operators that you have to admire their obvious skills, ability to improvise on the spot, and continuously throw others off-track, and while these are career criminals, their perspective is so calculated and so expertly realized that audiences will side with them, turning this into an ensemble buddy movie, where the extreme degree of personal flavor added only adds to our appreciation of them as a group overall.  They’re just a likable bunch, willing to go the extra mile to create and execute ingenious plans that carry a heavy entertainment value, where handing over the new shopping list of their requirements grows increasingly hilarious, and it’s not based on guns and explosions, or heavy gratuitous violence, and no sex to speak of, yet the ability to bring so much character development into the film works wonders, as we feel like we know these guys, having hung out with them for a good part of the film.  But things take a sudden and unexpected turn for the worse when we are introduced to a new character, the larger-than-life, fedora-wearing Zero Mostel as Abe Greenberg, a scene-stealer if ever there was one, a variation of his slimy role of Max Bialystock in THE PRODUCERS (1967), a man who could con anyone out of their money and do it with a smile.  He is the unexpected roadblock that puts the kibosh on all their hard-earned plans, suddenly outsmarted by a venerable old lawyer whose wretchedly underhanded tactics are the picture of corruption and sleaze, so extravagantly unorthodox and evil that even this cabal of thieves must sit back and admire, throwing a monkey wrench into their entire operations.  Mostel is so adorably repugnant that in the theater he would get a standing ovation for his mastery of sheer gall on display, taking a back seat to no one, where in a nod to THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962), a hypnotist named Miasmo (Lynne Gordon) provides the missing ingredient.  Seeing as how this is a breezy, feel-good movie, it all works out in the end.  Bookending the beginning with Redford cautiously walking down the street after he gets out of prison, yet breaking into a playful dance at the end as he so effortlessly strolls across the busy streets and down the heavily populated Manhattan sidewalks of New York, confidently walking a couple of blocks, relishing his celebratory mood to the music of Dixieland, bringing the film to a rollicking curtain-ending close where it will likely leave you with a smile.  

Raining in the Mountain (Kong shan ling yu)

 

Director King Hu

The director with actor Sun Yueh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RAINING IN THE MOUNTAIN (Kong shan ling yu)                    B-                                    Hong Kong  China  (120 mi)  1979  ‘Scope  d:  King Hu

In this film Hu asserts himself as the screenwriter, director, producer, art director, and editor, thus ensuring a high degree of authorial control over the total visual design of the film while imparting a calculated display of cultural and historical scholarship.  In many ways Hu’s own preoccupation with Chinese culture partly arose out of a confrontation with the growing popularity of Japan’s cultural assertiveness, with the rise in popularity of artists such as Kurosawa or Mizoguchi, which largely increased once the postwar American occupation of Japan eased in determining the dictates of film content and subject matter, allowing artists a fuller range of expression.  Hu nearly leaves the wuxia genre behind altogether in this more austere film, shot concurrently in Korea with the similarly-titled but quite different LEGEND OF THE MOUNTAIN, both released in 1979, as there’s barely any action at all, appearing only at the end.  Instead Hu seems fascinated with the location, remarkably photographed in Scope by Henry Chan, choosing a sprawling 8th century Bulguksa Buddhist temple set in the mountains.  Set during the Ming Dynasty, the magisterial opening is a long, drawn-out pilgrimage to a faraway place, involving extensive walking through a great distance, from the flatlands to the trees, featuring picturesque shots through craggy tree branches, or sunlight wafting through the trees, or foggy mists hovering over the hills, leading up into the mountains in a precarious climb, but as they approach the monastery, the remote Three Treasures Temple, they are greeted by one of the monks who escorts them into the grounds, passing what seems like an endless variety of buildings and climbing up a gazillion stairs, where the spaciousness of the place is epic and grandiose, only to have to walk even farther before finally reaching their accommodations, a spare yet unassuming room on the grounds, revealing the identities of a wealthy aristocrat merchant known as Esquire Wen (Sun Yueh) and his concubine White Fox (Hsu Feng), accompanied by her sidekick Gold Lock (Wu Ming-Tsai) disguised as a servant.  Yet she and Gold Lock immediately scamper around the maze-like grounds in search of a mysterious ancient scroll, as the two sneak, hide, and leap over walls, running and leaping about to evade detection, past hidden alleys and sloping roofs, where you’d think they’d be physically exhausted just arriving to such a remote destination on foot, yet the pair is a bundle of untapped energy.  The surprise here is that this turns out to be a heist film, with people scurrying around all the time spying on others, getting into other people’s business and trying to get the upper hand, yet it takes place at a Buddhist monastery where ethics are supposedly beyond reproach, yet everyone’s seemingly plotting nefarious activities.  High end production values with a low end story, this could be a plot for a Marx Brothers movie, as it’s a lot of talk seemingly about nothing, with misdirection everywhere.  To celebrate one hundred years of Chinese cinema, the Hong Kong Film Awards released a list of The Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures, with this listed at #59, Hong Kong Film Awards' List of The Best 100 Chinese Motion.

Also arriving to the temple is General Wang (Tien Feng), the governor of the district, and his police chief associate, Lieutenant Chang Cheng (Chen Hui-Lou), who immediately recognizes White Fox as a notorious master thief, so he follows her, attempting to disrupt and thwart her plans.  Both of the distinguished men are outsiders that have been sent for by the aging Abbot (Chin Chang-ken) as advisors and asked to help mediate his choice for a successor.  Both Wen and the General have their own designs on who should be chosen, having carefully established back channel contacts within the monastery through the years, both hoping to get their hands on the sacred Mahayana Sutra scroll of Tripitaka, a priceless relic with undreamed of value.  White Fox was brought here specifically to steal the document, as was Lieutenant Chang Cheng, and both counter each other’s stealthy moves for the duration of the movie, spying, plotting, and outmaneuvering the other, becoming repetitious and somewhat ridiculous after a while, bordering on a farce, turning into a comedy of errors routine.  In this film, characters run around a lot, athletically and acrobatically getting into forbidden locations, keeping out of sight, with Hu constructing a series of long, habitual rhythms that continuously reoccur, like a cycle of life montage.  Yet making matters worse is the arrival of Master Wu Wai (Wu Chia-hsiang), a layman with an expert knowledge of Buddhism, who is followed by an entourage of beautiful young women, outrageously conducting an outdoor prayer session while the women bathe in the nearby waters, an obvious distraction even to some of the monks.  While ostensibly grounded in Buddhist tradition, following meditative contemplation rituals from centuries old practices, this offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how prominently greed and corruption have infiltrated the holy grounds, offering a scathing portrait of devious monks resorting to the same nefarious activities that take place on the outside, sneaking off to buy things from local merchants that feed their own personal desires, ambitiously vying for power through unscrupulous practices, underlying the reputation of the monastery, exacerbated further by constant complaints from the disgruntled monks.  In terms of the Abbot’s succession, one of the higher ranking monks Hui Wen (Lu Chan) has agreed to give Wen the prized manuscript if he is selected, while General Wang has a similar agreement with Hui Tung (Shih Chun), though the disciple spending the most time at the Abbot’s side is the implacable figure of Hui Ssu (Paul Chun Pui).  Adding to the mix is a released convict, Chiu Ming (Lin Tung), who has paid a special fine to enter the monastery to seek a peaceful life, falsely accused of a crime by the corrupt General, yet vowing no retaliatory animosity.  When the Abbot assigns him to guard the library housing the ancient scrolls, he intercepts the apparent masterminds who are there to make off with the ancient manuscript, then accused by the thieves themselves of being a thief.  

The Abbot holds a public outdoor hearing with all the monks assembled, as well as the distinguished outsiders, to consider the fate of Chiu Ming.  Lieutenant Chang Cheng makes the case that he caught the man red-handed being somewhere he had no authorization to be (unaware of the Abbot’s instructions), apprehending the man at the scene of the crime, leaving out why he happened to be there, while General Wang argued that he previously arrested and convicted this scoundrel, claiming he could only be up to no good, with Master Wu Wai interrogating each of them with direct questions that call into question their own motives.  Yet when discipled monks are asked for their input, they indicate the General would not be satisfied unless significant punishment was rendered.  Accordingly, the Abbot has him locked and chained to the library door, which, of course, means none of the thieves have access to the manuscript.  The General relents, claiming the punishment is too harsh, pleading for the convict’s release, which then opens the door for more maneuvering behind the scenes, with each player caught in a web of betrayal.  The spatial Buddhist architecture, in its primal stillness, stands in stark contrast to the restless and elusive flurry of physical activity among the competing crooks, with most of the film set outside amid majestic forests and open-air temples, with Hu’s interest in Buddhism on display with its crucial relationship to the laws of the natural world.  After spending the next morning walking with various high ranking monks, the Abbot is ready to render his decision, surprising all with his pick of an outsider, none other than Chiu Ming, whose calm humility in the face of the storm is a quality the others lack, which disappoints everyone, all concealing their motives and identities yet vying to overturn this decision.  The benevolence of the newly chosen Abbot is immediately on display, thwarting all power plays, while demonstrating compassion, yet the undaunted Esquire Wen has the stolen scroll in his possession, urging White Fox to make her escape, eyed by Lieutenant Chang Cheng, who follows her as she escapes into the woods, with first one and then the other continually stealing it from the other in a comic Keystone cops routine of misdirection.  With characters running in opposite directions with their prize until smacking into an immovable obstacle, shocking cuts occur when characters unexpectedly appear behind trees in the forest chase, leading to a long escapade that finally features some daring martial arts battles and some nifty stuntwork.  It’s ultimately Esquire Wen and White Fox that win the prize, followed by a contingency of monks on their tail, with Wen having no other option but to hire a ferry boat across the river, very pleased with himself, until the boatman’s identity is revealed and Wen is exposed as a scam artist, bringing to light his own ruthless ambition and indiscriminate corruption.  Traversing through the mountainous rocks and boulders, the monks block all exit avenues, yet it’s Master Wu Wai’s stable of women that surprise them in the forest, turning into flying shamans with their robes fluttering in the breeze, finally cornering them and dealing a final blow of karmic retribution.  The new Abbot sends them all aghast when he burns the sacred document, dismissed as a “tattered old scroll,” claiming it was the cause of too much unwanted attention, handing out new copies that he carefully transcribed himself, claiming the scroll’s power lies in its written message, not in the object itself.  Ostensibly a morality tale, where the rain in the title refers to outside worldly influence wreaking havoc in hallowed quarters, it does feature a long and extensive battle of wits, where the frenetic underhanded subterfuge is matched by a calmer, more virtuous display of selflessness, the moral of the story apparently is crime doesn’t pay, with underlying implications that moral justice matters.