Palookaville

Jerry, Russ and Syd live lives that are going nowhere in a small New Jersey town. They need easy money. Their first attempt is a jewellery store, and they botch it so thoroughly that their incompetence as criminals is settled. Then they watch a black-and-white heist picture on television and decide to take an armoured truck. While they work on the plan, everything at home comes apart: wives, brothers, debts. It is that unravelling the film is about rather than the robbery. Alan Taylor's first film; ninety-two minutes, with William Forsythe, Vincent Gallo and Adam Trese. The film they watch on screen is Armored Car Robbery from 1950. David Epstein wrote the script, drawing on short stories by Italo Calvino.