Caper / Heist movies as a genre belong to two broad categories. Either the bad guys don’t get away with it – the police catch up with them. Or the bad guys get away with it – but with consequences. They also have two broad styles – dark and bloody. Or lightweight, crispy, and crackling with wit.
Don Sigel’s 1980 release, Rough Cut, belongs to the latter style. Siegel is infamous for Dirty Harry, the film that made Eastwood the icon for all gun nuts. But his works go back a long way and include many gems and genres – war movies, police movies, westerns, etc. He made one of the finest sci-fi movies, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, which is treated as a mirror for mid-1950s McCarthyism.
Jack Rhodes (Burt Reynolds) is a wealthy man with all the riches – nice clothes, cars, lovely parties, and a vast apartment. He bumps into Gillian Bromley (Lesley Ann Down) at one of the parties and observes her “light-fingered proclivities” – stealing. When confronted by Jack, she coolly trades barbs and witticisms with him. The smitten Jack ardently pursues her and decides to act on some information on uncut diamonds being sent to Amsterdam, which she seems to have inadvertently let slip. She has deliberately given him this knowledge on instructions of her “handler”, Chief Inspector Cyril Willis (David Niven) of Scotland Yard. Willis is obsessed with Rhodes and wants his capture as the crowning glory of his career.
Jack is assembling a host of international no-gooders and plans what the Inspector wants – stealing the uncut diamonds. Thus, the battle of wits starts between Jack and Willis, with Gillian being caught in the middle. Soon she is romantically involved with Jack, though she detests Inspector’s blackmail.
As with any caper movie, the film takes some time to take off. At least half an hour in this case. Once it gets going, it’s good clean fun all the way. We root for Jack and don’t want Gillian and Willis to catch him. He, of course, has some aces up his sleeve for both of them.
Time and again, Clint Eastwood has credited Don Siegel with teaching him everything about Direction and especially pacing a film. It is easy to see why. Eastwood’s relaxed pacing of his stories clearly follows Siegel’s style – in this case, the relaxed pace helps as we see the planning take place.
The film is full of wit. Jack gets together three other crooks, including a German Mueller, who still adorns his office with Nazi flags. The getaway pilot Mueller offers to deceive the air traffic control, and Jack replies, “Have you noticed your heavy German accent ?” “No”, replies the poker-faced Muller.
Burt Reynolds was then the top star and usually excelled in macho roles. However, in later years, he gravitated towards macho roles with a comic touch, as here. His one-liners are delivered with aplomb, and he carries the weight of the film on his rugged shoulders. Matching wits with him is the ever-elegant David Niven, who is quite the erudite English Inspector. Lesley Anne Down also matches steps with the duo.
There is some nice air tor air photography when the planes carrying the uncut diamonds are chased by the crooks’ plane with the same colors and registration. This seems to be a hidden product plug for the BAe 125 Executive Jet
What’s a caper movie without a shootout or a chase? In this case, when the diamonds are stolen in Amsterdam, there is a long chase through the Dutch countryside. How do we know it’s the Dutch Countryside? Well – they have windmills, don’t they? 😊
Rough Cut is a lightweight enjoyable caper movie that will have you smiling at times and wondering what will happen in this battle of wits.
The film is free on You Tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d16-qxhLWAM
Script – 4 out of 5
Story – 3 out of 5
Direction – 4 out of 5
Photography – 4 out of 5
Total – 3.8 out of 5
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