The American Cinematheque will present a memorial tribute to writer Donald E. Westlake, who died last December, with a screening of two films based on his novels, The Hot Rock and Cops and Robbers, on Thursday, March 12, at 7:30 pm at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.
I haven't seen Cops and Robbers, but I remember finding the caper comedy The Hot Rock quite enjoyable. Directed by Peter Yates from an Academy Award-nominated screenplay by William Goldman, The Hot Rock stars Robert Redford and George Segal as jewel thieves attempting — and generally failing at — the perfect heist.
Clip: Annie7676.
Schedule/info from the American Cinematheque:
Thursday, March 12 – 7:30 PM
THE HOT ROCK, 1972, 20th Century Fox, 101 min. Dir. Peter Yates. William Goldman adapts Donald Westlake's hilarious caper novel, a farce in which a gang of jewel thieves botch every aspect of their planned heist. Robert Redford and George Segal lead a stellar cast that also includes Zero Mostel and Charlotte Rae in this ingenious action-comedy.
COPS AND ROBBERS, 1973, MGM Repertory, 89 min. Dir. Aram Avakian. Cliff Gorman and Joseph Bologna play a pair of New York cops who feel smothered by the financial and social demands of their miserable lives. Their solution: an ingenious securities rip-off designed to buy their freedom. Adapting his own novel, Donald Westlake provides an effective combination of social satire and caper film, all set to a terrific score by the legendary Michel Legrand.
Aero Theatre 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90403
www.americancinematheque.com – 323.466.FILM – tickets: www.fandango.com
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The Hot Rock is fun. There were others movies like that in the 70s. The Sting and others. They should make more movies like that today.