Main Cast: Lynne Gordon, Robert Redford, George Segal, Ron Leibman, Paul Sand, Zero Mostel
Release Year: 1972
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: GP
Plot
Peter Yates directs the early '70s comedy caper The Hot Rock, based on the Donald Westlake novel and adapted for the screen by William Goldman. Robert Redford stars as John Archibald Dortmunder, a former jewel thief just released from prison. His brother-in-law, Andrew Kelp (George Segal), recruits him to steal a diamond from a museum. They are hired by Dr. Amusa (Moses Gunn), an ambassador from Central Fatawi, whose people consider the stone to be sacred. John and Andrew assemble a team with Alan Greenberg (Paul Sand) and Stan Murch (Ron Leibman). They successfully pull off the job until the guards arrest them and Alan swallows the diamond. Alan's father (Zero Mostel) helps him break out of jail, which leads to a series of other heist attempts. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Review
Star Robert Redford allegedly considers it one of his lesser efforts, but The Hot Rock is a lightly funny diamond heist caper that warrants no shame. Crisply scripted by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid scribe William Goldman, and efficiently directed by Peter Yates, The Hot Rock mines laughs out of an exemplary early '70s odd couple pairing of Redford's smooth yet cursed master thief and George Segal's neurotic accomplice. Though the supporting players remain underdeveloped, Zero Mostel's bowler-hatted lawyer and Quincy Jones' jazzy score add extra juice to the proceedings. Constantly beset by Murphy's Law, the gang's serial attempts to retrieve the titular diamond reach a comic high point in a police station raid that features a lackadaisical captain and tongue-in-cheek jabs at the cops' fear of the late '60s counterculture. Shot on-location in New York, Yates turns the city's bad 1970s reputation into further fodder for humor, while the gang's approach to the police station via helicopter includes aerial shots of the unfinished World Trade Center. Lost in the shuffle of Redford's more prominent early '70s vehicles, The Hot Rock has since fallen further into obscurity, with Redford reportedly holding up its video issue for quite some time; fortunately, it was rereleased on home video in 2003. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Moses Gunn - Dr. Amusa; Seth Allen - Happy Hippie; George Bartenieff - Museum Guard; Harry Bellaver - Rollo the Bartender; Ed Bernard - Policeman; Frederic Cook - Otto; Graham Jarvis - Warden; Robert Levine - Cop at Police Station; Gilbert Lewis - Museum Guard #1; Charlotte Rae - Ma Murch; William Redfield - Lt. Hoover; Topo Swope - Sis; Lee Wallace - Dr. Strauss; Robert Weil - Albert; Charles White - Policeman; Christopher Guest - Policeman; Mark Dawson - Big Museum Guard; Lynne Gordon - Miasmo
Credit
Bob Wrightman - Art Director, Ruth Morley - Costume Designer, Ted Zachary - First Assistant Director, Peter Yates - Director, Nicholas Sgarro - Second Unit Director, Fred W. Berger - Editor, Frank Keller - Editor, Quincy Jones - Composer (Music Score), Bill Rinehart - Songwriter, Irving Buchman - Makeup, John Robert Lloyd - Production Designer, Edward R. Brown - Cinematographer, Hal Landers - Producer, Bobby Roberts - Producer, Robert Drumheller - Set Designer, James J. Sabat - Sound/Sound Designer, Theodore Soderberg - Sound/Sound Designer, Carey Loftin - Stunts, William Goldman - Screenwriter, Donald E. Westlake - Book Author
After Dortmunder (Redford) is released from his latest stint in prison, he is approached by his brother-in-law, Andy Kelp (Segal), about another job. Dr. Amusa (Gunn) seeks a valuable gem in a Brooklyn museum that is of great significance to his people in his country in Africa, stolen during colonial times and then re-stolen by various African nations on multiple occasions since. Kelp and Dortmunder are joined by driver Stan Murch (Ron Leibman) and explosives expert Allan Greenberg (Paul Sand) and concoct an elaborate plan for stealing the gem from a museum in Brooklyn. Although the plan (and each subsequent plan) basically works, something always seems to go awry, and the quartet has to steal the diamond again and again.
First off, the diamond is eaten by Greenberg when he alone gets caught by the police during the initial heist. After Greenberg tells his partners where he hid the rock in the police precinct jail (after bodily disposing it), the quartet attempt another heist on the precinct. Although the plan works, the rock is nowhere to be found. It is later discovered that Greensberg's father Abe (Zero Mostel), a dishonest lawyer who bailed his son out of jail, was the only other person who knew where it was.
After a series of bluffs, Abe Greenberg reveals that he put the diamond in his safe deposit box and has made his own deal to sell the gem to Dr. Amusa, which will leave Dortmunder's quartet with nothing. Dr. Amusa fires Dortmunder for his incompetence. However, with the help of a hypnotist, Dortmunder is able to gain access to Abe's safe deposit box and retrieve the gem just after the bank opens in the morning. As Dortmunder exits the bank, Abe and Dr. Amusa arrive at the bank but do not see him in the crowd. Dortmunder climbs into a car where the others are waiting and a rousing cheer erupts as they drive off.
Influences on the movie
The opening scene of the movie, depicting a conversation between Dortmunder and the warden upon Dortmunder's release, is based on a scene edited out of Goldman's screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The origin of the scene was a real discussion between Butch Cassidy and the governor of Wyoming when Cassidy was released from prison, which Goldman uncovered when he was researching the prior screenplay.
One lengthy scene depicts the gang flying by helicopter through Manhattan to break into a police station. During this footage, the helicopter flies close to the World Trade Center, then under construction. During some broadcasts of the film in 2005, television station TBS edited this sequence out of the film.
Popular culture
The key phrase of the hypnotism section is "Afghanistan banana stand." The hyponotist had given the guard of the safe deposit boxes a post-hypnotic suggestion that was triggered when Dortmunder repeated this phrase during his morning visit to the bank. The phrase still appears in popular culture, although mostly used as a nonsense phrase.
When originally released in the United Kingdom the film was called "How to Steal a Diamond in Four Uneasy Lessons".
