SHORT TAKES
11 HARROWHOUSE (Twentitieth Century Fox):: This is one more lovable thieves, “perfect robbery” movie, a genre you might have thought Watergate eradicated forever. Wheezy as the central idea is (a billion dollar diamond heist), 11 Harrowhouse works thanks to its sheer preposterousness: the robbery is performed with the help of a giant vacuum cleaner and some hand-painted cockroaches.
SHORT TAKES
11 HARROWHOUSE (Twentitieth Century Fox):: This is one more lovable thieves, “perfect robbery” movie, a genre you might have thought Watergate eradicated forever. Wheezy as the central idea is (a billion dollar diamond heist), 11 Harrowhouse works thanks to its sheer preposterousness: the robbery is performed with the help of a giant vacuum cleaner and some hand-painted cockroaches. The main pleasure is Charles Grodin doing an affable variation of his Heartbreak Kid number; his off-screen narration is unfailingly witty.
James Mason, John Geilgud, and Trevor Howard are also on hand to add some tony, stiff-upper-lipisms to the proceedings. And then there’s always Candice Bergen. She’s still just about the most beautiful woman in movies, and every so often she comes up with an inflection or a pause that indicates she might take up acting for a living some day.
John Kane