The Hot Rock

A heist comedy set in New York. Dortmunder has just come out of prison. His brother-in-law Kelp is waiting at the gate with an offer: a diamond in a museum is to be stolen. The man who wants the job done is an ambassador from an African country. The stone belongs to them and is on display in the museum; he wants it back. A crew is put together: a driver, a technician and a few others. The plan is made and carried out. The robbery succeeds. Then something goes wrong and the diamond is lost again. The idea is that repetition: four separate plans are needed for the same stone. Each time there is a new building, a new method and a new mishap. The crew gets into a prison, a police station and a bank. The humour comes from the repetition itself and from the characters wearing out; Dortmunder is a little more fed up every time. The source is Donald Westlake's novel; William Goldman wrote the screenplay. Robert Redford plays Dortmunder and George Segal plays Kelp. Ron Leibman, Paul Sand and Zero Mostel are in the cast. Peter Yates directed. An enjoyable choice for anyone who likes the heist comedies of the 1970s and the streets of New York. For a viewer expecting tension, the film is about mishap rather than action.