The Bank Shot (1974) User Reviews

Wasted Opportunity....its a GREAT Book

[royiscool86 · 5/10 · 25 March 2007]

Donald Westlake's Dortmunder are a terrific series of caper books about a career crook with bad luck. "Bank Shot" may very well be the best of the bunch, well the funniest anyway. But the movie fails on many levels.

First off there's the casting, George C. Scott wasn't a horrible choice, if he had a good script he would have worked fine, Sorrell Booke wasn't the best choice, though i love to see him in something other than "The Dukes of Hazzard," Don Calfa is okay as the driver from the books, but Frank McRae was great as Hermman X.

If you want to see a pretty good Dortmunder movie, watch "The Hot Rock" with Robert Redford or "Why Me?" with Christopher Lambert. Watch out of curiosity, at least its closer to the books than "What's the Worst that Could Happen?"

Lightweight fun with a good cast

[carp68 · 4/10 · 28 March 2008]

"The Bank Shot" is a pleasant enough little film with a decent cast that you've seen in many other movies and television episodes. George C. Scott is a terrific actor. Three distinct movies that show his broad acting range (in my opinion) are "Anatomy Of A Murder", "Patton", and "The Bank Shot." I felt he handled the comedy in this movie very well. The novel that this was taken from (by Donald Westlake) is quite funny as are most of his books. Two other films based on Westlake's novels, "The Hot Rock" & "Cops And Robbers" were filmed in the same era and are equally funny. Joanna Cassidy was bubbly and bright and very attractive (still is, too!). Sorrell Booke was a treat and got to ham it up the most as Ballentine's "lawyer", Al G. Karp. By the way, speaking of ham, did anyone else catch that the character name Hermann X (portrayed by Frank McRae) sounds an awful lot like "ham & eggs?" Clifton James narration was quite humorous especially during the opening scenes. G. Wood was very good in M.A.S.H (and M*A*S*H--television) and plays Streiger's assistant quite ably. Overall, an innocuous flick with humor, slapstick and hardly any cursing so watch it with the family. Most enjoyable and worth viewing for all the actors you know and love.

Dump the warden's pursuit and this could be a very good comedy caper

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 11 April 2021]

George C. Scott didn't make many comedies, and when he did he played the straight man. Any movie buff who has seen much of his work would probably doubt his ability to do comedy any other way. "The Bank Shot" turned out not very good. But the plot for this film had real potential. All it needed to be successful would have been to eliminate the character or most of the role that Clifton James plays, as Streiger.

Once Scott's Walter Ballentine escapes from prison, there's no further need for Streiger in the movie. But the decision to sort of build a double plot - around Ballentine's bank heist efforts, and the Streiger-led efforts to catch Ballentine's gang, ruins this film. It creates overload, and removes any suspense there might be about the heist working. Besides, who ever heard of a warden leading a police network and manhunt?

No, I think the plot without the organized chase by Streiger would have been a very good comedy, with the gang encountering and dodging the usual police presence. Then, the time and space saved from the Streiger removal could have had a little more comedy put into the dialog of the crooks. And, the ending could have been kept as is, with regular police arriving on the scene, or changed to something else creatively funny.

I was quickly annoyed by the diversions to Streiger after the first one, and instead tried to enjoy the heist plot and antics without letting the diversions take away from the film. With that I can give this film six stars. Take Streiger out after the prison break and it would jump at least one notch. Put in some more comedy around the gang and it could climb to an 8-star film for entertainment.

Strenuously daffy...

[moonspinner55 · 2/10 · 5 March 2011]

Incarcerated thief--with a colorful rap-sheet of offenses--is tipped off by a former crony about a little bank near Los Angeles just waiting to be robbed; he breaks out of prison and surveys the bank in question, deciding it would be better to make off with the entire mobile building rather than just the safe. Scrappy adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's novel (a follow-up to his similarly-themed "The Hot Rock", itself filmed in 1972), this half-assed comedy-caper is poorly photographed and directed, but does benefit from energetic supporting players and some mild laughs in the opening. It falls apart after an hour or so, with George C. Scott (sporting exaggerated eyebrows and a peculiar, Ed Wynn-like speaking voice) badly miscast in the lead. * from ****

Funny, Funny, Funny

[rwint · 7/10 · 5 April 2004]

8 out of 10

Completely wacky story involving seven nutty people who decide to rob a bank that is inside a mobile home. They do so by stealing the entire building only to find that trying to open the safe is even tougher.

This is the type of comedy that works because although it is built around one gimmick it doesn't just stay dependent on it. Everything is offbeat here. It really is just one laugh after another and it comes at a extremely fast pace. Nearly every scene is diverting and some of it even memorable. It shows a good handle on the absurd with just the right balance of the irreverent particularly with the police and other authority figures. Scott's escape from his prison camp is good example of all these ingredients. He uses a stolen bulldozer to crash through the gate while the police chief tries to 'chase him down' while driving nothing more than a flimsy little golf cart. It all makes for one of the most unique chase sequences you will ever see.

Of course the actual heist of the bank building is still the best. The innumerable and frustrating attempts at trying to open a most difficult safe comes in at a close second. There are also a lot of other fun ironic twists.

Scott is not necessarily the best person for the part of the cunning and audacious criminal mastermind. He looks very old, grouchy, and tired here. He has your grandfathers big bushy eyebrows and talks with a very strange lisp. Yet he is also at his crumudgeon best and the film makes the most of it. Cassidy with her infectious laugh and very sunny disposition makes for a terrific counterpart. James though probably stands out the most in a over the top caricature of the hard nosed police sergeant. It's the best role of his career and a part he looks to have been born to play.

If the film has any faults it is the fact that it tends to be too one dimensionally silly and at points seems almost cartoonish. A little more tension here and there wouldn't have hurt. It also goes by way too fast and the ending isn't very satisfying. Still this is a solid comedy that should appeal to anyone with a good sense of humor. It is also fun for the whole family.

Another bad Dortmunder adaptation

[bobfingerman · 1/10 · 2 March 2003]

Why can't Dortmunder catch a break? It's bad enough for him that his capers always go awry in the great book series by master plotter Donald E. Westlake, but that's the joy of those fictions. But to have such lousy movies based on his exploits is insult on injury (and irks this particular fan).

The fact is that every Dortmunder flick I've seen has been awful, and this one is no exception. Okay, so they changed the character names (no doubt because the rights were tied up), but name aside, Walter Upjohn Ballentine is still a weird interpretation of the John Archibald Dortmunder from the books. Where did that lisp come from? And the crazy eyebrows? Did Scott contribute those affectations or was he directed to do so? Scott might have actually been good had he played the character as written, but this whole movie is so misdirected (in every sense) and miscast I wonder why they even bothered. It's so strange. Westlake's Dortmunder novels could practically be shot as written (with little trimming for time considerations), yet the filmmakers who tackle these undertakings seem bent on ignoring the timbre of the books and making unwatchable crap.

In the books the characters are much more calm, cool and collected. Everyone in this is shrill, stupid and over-the-top.

Best avoided.

Literally heisting a bank

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 13 September 2015]

Although I think George C. Scott is much better at drama than at comedy, he controls his normal intensity and does well with Bank Shot. Scott plays a master criminal who's on temporary hiatus in prison when his disbarred lawyer Sorrell Booke visits him with an idea for a heisting a bank.

Scott escapes with relative ease the penal institution run by Clifton James where he's incarcerated. Which gives James an obsession to catch him that he leaves the job and supervises the manhunt. But that's like the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.

Booke's only half right. He wants to rob a bank where a bank is temporarily housed in a mobile home. But Scott doesn't like his original plan. Let's heist the bank itself.

Some pretty funny gags are in Bank Shot and the crew Booke gives Scott would be closer to The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. Funniest is his nephew Bob Balaban former FBI employee who apparently developed an admiration for the criminal lifestyle while employed there. A gambit you could never use while J. Edgar Hoover was running the show.

Best bit is the faux railroad impending crash at a crossing where James and security guards are forced to flee for their lives after the temporary bank has been heisted.

Scott also is of the opinion that women and his kind of work don't mix. With reluctance he has Joanne Cassidy who assisted with his escape as part of his team. The saltpeter in his prison diet have made him somewhat resistant to her beauty although Cassidy does her best to see it her way.

Scott and the cast do a wonderful job. James is really the funny one here. Scott plays it absolutely straight and let's the rest of the cast get the laughs. It works out well in Bank Shot.

The worst Westlake adaptation yet

[gf-18 · 2/10 · 11 June 2010]

If proof was needed that Gower Champion should never be allowed on a film set again, this movie provides it. Based pathetically on Donald Westlake's second "Dortmunder" novel, it's so bad that the names had to be changed to protect the innocent. Dortmunder becomes Balantyne. Kelp becomes Karp. Scott's forced to operate with caterpillars glued over his own eyebrows, making him appear to be the love child of a Hobbit and Jerry Colonna. And everything that is laugh-out-loud funny in the novel is "please kill me now" awful here.

While Robert Redford was terribly miscast in "The Hot Rock" (George Segal would have made the better Dortmunder), at least he was not strapped to the screenplay and director from hell as Scott was. The fans of Westlake still await a decent "Dortmunder," but hold out little hope. Walter Matthau, who would have smacked that role out of the park, is gone. But this is a case where you really want to hunt up the novel and never ever go near this film, drunk or sober.

Zany heist caper, with agreeably oddball characters and rib-tickling situations.

[barnabyrudge · 7/10 · 3 August 2006]

The caper movie was all the rage in the 1970s, especially after the 1972 film The Hot Rock had shown critics and audiences just how good a well-thought-out caper film could be. The Hot Rock was based on a novel by Donald E. Westlake, and it is another Westlake novel that provides the inspiration this time around, as Gower Champion takes to the directorial chair for Bank Shot.

Criminal genius Walter Ballantine (George C. Scott) is approached while doing time in a desert penitentiary and asked to participate in a bank heist. First he needs to bust out of jail, which he does with a little help from a bulldozer and sexy lady-crook El (Joanna Cassidy). El is just one of a team of villainous oddballs with whom Ballantine will be carrying out his next villainous project. The others include Al G. Karp (Sorrell Booke), Victor Karp (Bob Balaban), Herman X (Frank McRae), and Mums (Bibi Osterwald). Their plan is to rob a bank and, after careful planning, Ballantine comes up with the ingenious idea of stealing the entire building. It seems that the bank in question is a rather small building, rather like a portable wooden home or caravan. With incredible audacity, the team of criminals steal the building one night by putting it on wheels and disguising it so that it appears like a trailer home. Having booked their new "house" into a trailer park while the heat cools, the gang of misfits seem to have succeeded with their brilliant robbery. But there's a final twist in store as obsessed cop Bulldog Streiger (Clifton James) – a long-time nemesis of Ballantine's - refuses to give in without a fight….

Bank Shot is a short, snappy and frequently very funny film. Scott proves himself a surprisingly capable comedian in a role that is far removed from the likes of "Dr. Strangelove" and "Patton" (the latter of which had earned him an Oscar). In fact, the whole cast sizzle in this wacky film, most notably Clifton James as the persistent cop whose goal in life is to nail Walter Ballantine whatever the cost. What really helps the film is the fact that the heist is so unique and unusual – no mere robbery here, but the very clever and very amusing concept of the crooks stealing the entire building. It's just outrageous enough to add a delightfully zany edge to the proceedings. The film is tightly paced and runs for a mere 80 minutes or so, which may sound somewhat brief but actually works in the film's favour, making the events move along with urgency rather than dwelling on superfluities. Wendell Mayes deserves credit for this, having done a splendid job of adapting the Westlake novel for his screenplay. There are occasional shades of heavy-handedness, such as a silly final sequence in which Scott is cast adrift in the Pacific Ocean, but these misjudgements are few and far between and do not particularly ruin one's enjoyment of the film.

What can be said about Bank Shot that hasn't been said about a burning painful rectal itch?

[Silly_Whyte_boye · 1/10 · 19 December 2004]

Can you imagine if some brilliant producer in 1971 decided 'Deliverance' would be 'better' if they changed Ned Beatty's character 'Bobby' to 'Bobbi' and cast Shelly Winters instead? And instead of going down a river in canoes they are going down the highway on motorcycles. And Bobbi's big squeeee-eeel takes place in a canyon off the highway thru Monument Valley! Or Could you imagine some Hollywood suit in 1972 coming up with the brilliant changes for 'The Exorcist': They make Father Karras struggling with his sexual repression and sexual identity having to face his demons before he acts upon them! Change Regan's character from a girl to a Scottish terrier, oh and, of course, get this: Change The Devil to Jesus Christ. 'Bank Shot' is a perfect example of what happens when novels are adapted to the screen...some 'writer' thinks they can improve a tried a true novel! Oh, here's a brilliant Idea for 'Good Fellas'! All the males are gay and they would substitute their acts of violence for acts of sex which is expressed rage at their fathers seed and for their fathers lack of affection and Love. The club they go to they attend in drag. Of course, all guns would be replaced with latex replicas of their manhood! The 'Clown Scene' would make it NC 17.

'Bank Shot' the novel has those lovable guys from 'The Hot Rock'; Dortmunder, Kelp, Greenberg, Stan Murch and his ma! But, they turned it into a campy, I don't know what. All the characters were so animated they didn't resemble anything Donald E. Westlake wrote.

As far as a movie goes They pretty much kept the plot of (going by the book) Dortmunder and Co. stealing the WHOLE bank! This is screwball enough because the bank is under construction and the temp bank is a trailer as in a Trailer Home. They put it on wheels and drive off with it. They paint it in a football stadium, then move it to a trailer park, where the neighbor's sprinklers wash the wet the paint off...as the police are looking for the Bank! Having to move the trailer while (Kelp-the Locksmith) is trying to rack the safe with little success! They end up parking on the side of a desolate road on a hill and quickly making it look like a roadside café to provide coffee and donuts for the cops who are looking for the bank.

George C.Scott does comedy very well, don't get me wrong. And I am sure his character was funny...but I was expecting John Dortmunder, not this Ballentine guy who who rips off Donald E. Westlake's immortal character John Dortmunder! Not my fav. Joanna Cassidy...how can ya NOT like the twinkle in her eyes right before she laughs! She jiggles when she laughs, ya know?! I just can n to help but laugh with her! She is contagious in this way! I believed her, at least that she was having fun! and now, 30 years later...be still my heart! She still twinkles and jiggles! and has become an accomplished actress! She does have a great body...of work!

In closing, my final but philosophical pitch: 1972 Walter Hill and Sam Peckinpah adapted Dr. Hunter S. Thompson's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. Sam Peckinpah would direct; Mr. Hill-AD. I would pick Dustin Hoffman to play 'Duke'. I think George C. would have done a great job as 'Dr. GonZo' if 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' was made in 1974, instead of this corny camp.

1 star because of Joanne Cassidy! She is the ONLY reason worth watching this one.

A very amusing and enjoyable tongue-in-cheek heist yarn

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 28 July 2009]

Crusty criminal mastermind Walter Upjohn Ballantine (a marvelously grouchy performance by George C. Scott) breaks out of prison and devises a wild plan to rob a bank by stealing the whole building (!). The big gig goes off without a hitch, but the aftermath of said gig goes disastrously awry. Meanwhile, gruff, hard-nosed Warden Streiger (a deliciously broad portrayal by veteran character actor Clifton James) tries to nab Ballantine before he gets away. Director Gower Champion, working from a tight and witty script by Wendell Mayes, relates the engagingly wacky story at a constant zippy pace and maintains a properly zany tone throughout. The tip-top cast have a ball with their colorful roles: Scott keeps his dignity and a straight face amongst the loopy other characters, James chews up the scenery with lip-smacking gusto, ravishing redhead knockout Joanna Cassidy adds considerable sex appeal with her delightfully spunky turn as flaky'n'lusty financial backer Eleonora, plus there are nifty contributions by Sorrell Booke as Ballantine's bumbling partner Al G. Karp, Bob Balaban as Karp's eager beaver nephew Victor, Bibi Osterwald as the dotty Mums Gornik, Don Calfa as antsy driver Stosh Gornik, and Frank McRae as hot-tempered safecracker Herman X. Harry Stradling, Jr's crisp cinematography, John Morris' suitably quirky and lively score, a nice unexpected ending, and the overall infectiously goofy comic sensibility all further enhance the prevalent blithely silly charm of this immensely funny hoot.

Not quite British enough quirky caper film.

[EThompsonUMD · 6/10 · 12 January 2003]

Adapted from the Donald Westlake novel of the same title "The Bank Shot" stars George C. Scott and a very young Joanna Cassidy (Zora, the snake-dancing replicant of "Blade Runner" fame). A farcical entry in the caper genre whose hook is a plan to steal a bank (mind you, not rob the bank, but to heist, not to mention hoist, the very structure itself), the film exhibits the dry humor, zany sight gags, and whimsical plot twists characteristic of post-Alec Guinness and "Tom Jones" British cinematic comedy.

As a 1974 Hollywood release, "The Bank Shot" was somewhat ahead of its time, preceding both the Monty Python invasion and the American popularity of films like "A Fish Called Wanda." This film is nowhere near as successful as its more famous British counterparts, but it does have its moments and, viewed from a contemporary perspective, an appealing aura of mid-'70s nostalgia replete with long-haired disguises, peace signs, garish fashion, and a plot-central splashing of hot pink paint. Like "Tom Jones" but to a far lesser degree, the film's whimsy manifests itself in its visual an aural techniques not only in its storyline. Some instances include a stunning silhouette sequence that plays like a moving shadow box, an insistently self-conscious (and ultimately annoying) use of voice-over narration, and several outrageously choreographed chase scenes (one involving a golf cart and a caterpillar tractor and another in which everyone - even a pedestrian bystander - is moving backwards were memorably wacky).

Befittingly, the caper gang in "The Bank Shot" is a mixed bag of nut cases, some more effectively cast than others. In a minor role so early in his career that the credits still list him as "Robert," the always interesting-to-watch Bob Balaban is, well, interesting to watch. Also adding quirkiness and some adept physical humor to the cast is Don Calfa, who is perhaps best remembered for his role as Paulie the hapless hit man in "Weekend at Bernie's." Less successfully cast - indeed the killer of every scene he's in is Sorrel Booke as the sidekick who springs criminal mastermind Walter Ballantine (George C. Scott) from jail in order to pull off "the shot" on the bank.

Scott himself, despite his great success in heavy satires like "Dr. Strangelove" and "The Hospital," seems strangely miscast or under-directed in this film. He so underplays his role that he often seems quite nearly asleep. One might be tempted to attribute the sleepwalking to the sodium nitrate (saltpeter) his character continues to consume in large doses even after escaping from prison, but so far as I know the chemical only causes impotence, not somnambulance. Joanna Cassidy, on the other hand, plays the gang's money man, hanger-on, and would-be seductress with a grating manic intensity.

All in all, this gang isn't quite charming enough (British enough?) to make us care whether they succeed or fail in the heist nor does the screenplay supply enough chuckles to quite sustain the film's comic tone. "The Bank Shot" is nevertheless worth a look, but only in a widescreen version that preserves its original Panavision format. It can't afford to surrender even the slightest bit of the visual humor around its edges to cropping or panning.

Bank Shot

[Coxer99 · 6 June 1999]

Scott cringes when this film is brought up and rightly so; it's one of those capers that start all stops out, but then have nowhere else to go. Gags that have potential and a cast that could have worked a little harder, but the biggest problem was the amatuerish script and the obvious look of boredom on the face of star Scott. If you didn't want to do the film...why did you sign on for it?

I'd like to know.

Miscast Maladaptation

[boblipton · 3/10 · 24 March 2002]

I do not understand why the movies cannot handle Donald Westlake's comic writing. They miscast them, based on who is hot. They cut out the scenes tat might be cinematically interesting. They miss the points of all the jokes and don't understand the characters. Only when Westlake does the script -- as in THE GRIFTERS or HOT STUFF -- does the point come through. Give this a miss.

Fluffy Comedy with great laughs!

[lapratho · 28 March 2007]

This may be the one that George C Scott cringed about, but WHAT a laugh it was! Certainly not an intellectual feast, but why should every movie be just that? I like my mind to be tickeled, but laughs are always welcome and badly needed to! This is one of those movies that is small and light and fluffy and is simply truly great entertainment, simply because it is so unpretentious. If you want a break from every day life, this is great watching with gags galore, and it is precisely Scott's very annoyed attitude that makes it work. His "Leave me alone you crazies" attitude makes the other characters carry through a vision of a crazy world, that is despite its outrageous insanity closer to the truth of every day senselessness than we all would admit. I first saw this one as a kid, and I can still laugh about it. It is from the same period as "Harold and Maude" and while by no means carrying any social or philosophical comments like Harold and Maude, it certainly has that irreverent flair of the 70s. Does a movie always have to be serious? Whatever happened to simple laughter and charme and the kind of babedom and sexiness displayed by a young Joanna Cassidy? Every character punched through and was flavorful and strong. I will also take this movie's camera-work over anything done with the 90s vintage (and still in use) "new look" stupid jiggling camera and zoomiezoom wiggle-jiggle and zoom-in-zoom-out-pretending-to-be-documentary stuff that makes me sea sick and makes me hit the "off" button regardless of what the story line may be! This one is one of my all time favorite comedies , and I don't care what critics think or Scott thought! It feels right and it lives in a different world. Now isn't also what movies can be all about?

Average

[Enchorde · 5/10 · 4 November 2008]

Recap: Karp is planning a heist. And for that he needs a true criminal mastermind, Walter Upjohn Ballentine. Problem is, Ballentine is behind bars at Steiger's Institute. And Bulldog Steiger never lets anyone escape, especially not Bellentine. However, Ballentine breaks out and heads out to LA to plan this heist. And what a plan it is... he is not about to just rob a bank. He is about to steal a bank!

Comments: A very interesting idea. But the end result is just average. Why? My personal opinion is that most of the characters just pulls it down. Written as a bunch of amateurs to bring about some comic effect, I just found them disturbing. It was really Ballentine that knew what he was doing, the rest of them was mostly just dumb. I found them annoying.

Well, still a good heist, and a good heist is always appreciated. So the story saves the movie. Not much more to say, really.

5/10

Don't be fooled by the low rating!

[Stu-42 · 7/10 · 18 May 2001]

This movie was lots of fun from start to finish with Scott in an unusual comic role. The madcap hijinxs that ensue are outrageous and the excellent cast of characters do a fine job. I'm not sure why the very low rating- were people looking for masterpiece theatre? Sit back and enjoy this 70s romp that's much better than most "great" movies I've seen lately.

Perhaps they should have gotten one of the Three Stooges or Soupy Sales for this one.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 20 May 2023]

While the Three Stooges were mostly dead by 1974, the film really seems as if it would have worked better with them (probably before they died...but either way). After all, instead of a clever and subtle comedy, "The Bank Shot" ends up being a kooky one...a kooky one that just doesn't quite work. The film definitely was meant to be a comedy...but it's so over-the-top at times that I think it would elicit more groans than laughs. Oddly, however, the film does NOT feature comedians. If you're going to do a kooky caper film, why pick George C. Scott (a definitely unfunny sort of guy) to star in the film?! And, why add those giant bushy Cookie Monster-like eyebrows to him? Is this supposed to somehow make him funny? Given the right material and direction it still might have worked...such as his performance in Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove". But here in "The Bank Shot"...it's just disappointing.

The story begins with Walter (Scott) in prison for bank robbery. His idiotic friend, Al (Sorrell Booke), arrives posing as Walter's lawyer. Why? Because he knows of a bank that is just waiting to be robbed...and he wants Walter to escape and then mastermind the robbery. Well, considering EVERYONE is incredibly stupid in the story, it's amazingly easy for Walter to just leave prison. In fact, that's a HUGE weakness of the story....everyone is stupid and behaves stupidly. And, they are so inept it wouldn't take a criminal mastermind to organize this caper!

It turns out that a bank is undergoing renovations and the bank is being temporarily housed in a mobile home. Walter's plan isn't to hold up the bank in the traditional way, but steal the entire bank! Can they get away with it? And, is anyone in the film actually smarter than a tomato?

A different actor in the lead and/or a different director who understands subtlety, as well as a re-write might have made the story work well. But as it is, it's just a kooky time-passer starring one of the greatest actors of his day...in a film completely ill-suited for his talents. A few funny moments...but only a few.

By the way, in one scene the police are shown backing all their vehicles up a long distance. If you look at the pedestrians, you can actually tell that they just ran the film backwards...as they are walking backwards as well as the cars. I'm not sure if this was deliberate...or they were incompetent.

promising premise.....okay finish.

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 9 June 2019]

The music and the script both show that this will be a silly heist caper. George Scott had won the oscar for Patton a couple years earlier, so this was pretty lightweight fun compared to that. Sorrell Booke was the Boss on Dukes of Hazzard for YEARS in the 1980s. and Bob Balaban was so serious in so many Christopher Guest films, years after this. G. Scott is "Ballantine".. still in jail, but already planning his next heist with his "lawyer" Al Karp, played by Booke. fun, older, character actor Liam Dunn is in here as "Painter". Mel Brooks used Dunn in his films for YEARS... was the judge in "Whats up Doc?". supporting Don Calfa was in Foul Play. Joanna Cassidy co-stars, but I don't know much about her. this was one of her early credited roles. lots of laughing. she hits it off with Ballentine. Lots of planning, riding on motorcycles, driving around. we're half-way through, and not much progress has been made on the heist. Then, things start to happen...Can they hide a bank, that was housed in a mobile home, and then dragged away ? Mr. Carlin, from the Bob Newhart Show ( Jack Riley) is in here as the FBI agent, looking for the missing mobile bank. it's kinda slow, by today's standards, but fun for back in the day. some fun twists near the end. Directed by Gower Champion. didn't direct much. acted. directed, some crew credits. not the best, biggest ending. ah well. sadly, Champion died quite young at 59.

"Hello Walter. It's so nice to have you back where you belong."

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 3 March 2021]

An early laugh in this film directed by Gower champion has a reference that will make you think of his Broadway musical "Hello Dolly!", rather obscure ten years after its Broadway opening, but amusing to those who get it. There's also the presence of Bibi Osterwald, Carol Channing's understudy, playing an amusingly eccentric supporting character. But for the most part, this caper comedy isn't very funny, and it takes an hour for the caper to the begin.

The story surrounds the theft of a bank. Not a bank robbery, but the actual lifting up of a trailer that is home to a bank in a shopping center (then known as a plaza), placed on a flatbed truck and take it into a warehouse where the circus like atmosphere has all the perpetrators (led by George C Scott and Joanna Cassidy) trying to get the darn thing open.

Decent supporting performances by Osterwald, Clifton James and Sorrell Brooke are minor saving graces to this fiasco which made right after the success of the same author's "The Hot Rock". Scott has a sneer on his face throughout that could be disgust as if he knows it's going to tank which it did. Its attempt to be wistful fails miserably, so their bank shot ends up being the title's second word with a different vowel.

Good dumb fun.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 6 May 2017]

Scripted by Wendell Mayes, based on the novel by Donald E. Westlake, "Bank Shot" tells a farcical story with some style. George C. Scott stars, playing the same character that Robert Redford played in the film version of "The Hot Rock", albeit with a different name. Walter Upjohn Ballantyne is a career criminal who breaks out of jail in order to participate in a most unusual bank robbery. He and his cohorts won't just attempt to steal its money, they'll make off with the bank itself! In order to see what I mean, you'll just have to watch this one.

The movie isn't exactly perfect. For one thing, it might have been nice to have some genuine tension. It also tends to have frenetic sequences of actors shouting over each other and rendering their dialogue unintelligible. However, the fact that it is so blatantly comedic helps to make up, somewhat, for any holes there are in the script.

Guided by actor & director Gower Champion ("Show Boat", "My Six Loves"), "Bank Shot" does have incredible comic energy, and is paced extremely well, wrapping up in a tidy 84 minutes. Its main value is the chemistry between an eclectic ensemble: a very amusing Scott, lovely Joanna Cassidy ("Blade Runner") as the jet setter bankrolling the heist, Sorrell "Boss Hogg" Booke as Ballantynes' shady lawyer, Bob Balaban ("Altered States") as the lawyers' shady nephew, Don Calfa ("The Return of the Living Dead") as the getaway driver, Bibi Osterwald ("As Good as it Gets") as the drivers' mom, and Frank McRae ("48 Hrs.") as the hot tempered safecracker. Look, also, for Liam Dunn ("Blazing Saddles") as a painter and Jack Riley ('The Bob Newhart Show') as an FBI agent. Clifton James ("Live and Let Die") is Ballantynes' nemesis, a prison warden who's actually a fairly amiable character.

Bright widescreen photography and a peppy John Morris music score help to make this an agreeable, if not outstanding, comic crime caper. It never does get very unpleasant, which may further enhance its appeal for some viewers.

Seven out of 10.

A comedy that works

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 5 November 2023]

THE BANK SHOT is a lightheart comedy from 1974 which stars George C. Scott in a rare appearance for the genre. It begins as a prison drama before moving into an oddball heist movie packed with some top character actors, including Frank McRae and Don Calfa, although it's Scott's slightly smug performance that leads the way. The escape scene with the bulldozers is a highlight here, but the inventive heist that happens later on in the film is handled very well. The suspense doesn't let up afterwards either, and I doubt I'm the only person who gets a kick out of a Clifton James appearance. The ending is a bit abrupt, but otherwise this works.

Funny caper comedy that kind of peters out at the end

[gee-15 · 6/10 · 13 August 2022]

Ballantyne (Scott) is a famous bank robber who is recruited by his old friend Karp (Sorrell Booke) to rob a bank but not any bank. A temporary bank in a mobile home. So instead of robbing the bank, Ballantyne and his motley associates decide to steal the bank. It's a funny slight caper film with some good laughs. Joanna Cassidy is quite funny as the overenthusiastic society gal that funds the project. An earnest Bob Balaban ( quite young) makes an appearance as well. It's all forgettable fun but the writers didn't know how to wrap it up. Without going into details, everyone ends up in the ocean and Scott swims off leaving everyone and everything behind. It's kind of weird. But it's still plenty amusing up until the very end.