Another Eighties Film That Fell Through The Cracks

It's not available on DVD. I doubt it ever will be, unless someone decides to release, like, a super-exhaustive Louis Malle box set. I also saw it on Hulu and I only watched it because I figured I might not easily do so again. Well, it deserves its reputation, I'll leave it at that. Hard to believe Louis Malle was involved with this, part of me thinks it must be some sort of mistake.

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YOU'RE TEARING ME APART, LISA!

Unfortunately, this film fell through the cracks for good reason, it belongs there. I saw this film when it first came out, and was very disappointed. I like quirky 80's films, like Down and Out in Beverly Hills and the like, but this film is the pits. It has some funny moments, like Irwin Corey as Lazzarelli, but all in all it's flat and uninspired.

Louis Malle was a great director, but even great directors can have failures. View this film like you would Terry Gilliam's Brothers Grimm or Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. Big Deal on Madonna Street was the first and better film.

The worst problem with this movie is the fact that the man they are stealing from is a likable, kind person. He's a little tight with his money, but he is a good friend, a decent old man just trying to run his pawn business. Many of his good friends are in on the heist, a burglary that would rob the old man of all his life savings. Some "friends".

The other problem is, the film is boring. It is basically an Americanized French farce, but it's not funny. There are many characters in the film, and very few of them are developed, and the ones that are simply aren't identifyable, interesting or likable. The film has no idea if it wants to be a heist film or an examination of goofy people that populate a lower class neighborhood.

I think the only reason this film managed to secure the great cast it has, was due to their desire to work with Malle. it certainly wasn't the script. For good Malle, watch Au revoir les enfants or Atlantic City. The original film, Big Deal on Madonna Street - which is credited as "suggesting" this movie - is a much better film by another European director, Mario Monicelli. See that film and let this one gather dust.


"...nothing is left of me, each time I see her..." - Catullus

This is currently available on Netflix. For the person who purchased this for $2, well I'd demand a refund along with punitive damages ;-)

Fell through the crack? Someone should've WIPED this crack. Sorry for the harshness of my words but this moved dragged like a 20 ton slab of pig iron through hardening cement. Good grief was the pacing slow with extraneous scenes that should've been left on the bathroom, er, cutting room floor. I felt like a cartoon character in the moment after he just ran off a cliff hanging in mid air with his legs still running and trying to gain traction. In other words, going nowhere fast...I'm sure the reader can hear the sound effect.

Seldom am I this critical but PEE YOU, whatta stinker. Having said that this did feature some of my favorite actors and actresses but you can make a soup out of the best ingredients and it can still end up tasting awful.

The best thing about this is seeing San Fran from nearly 30 years ago....gawd how I feel old all of a sudden! Here's a CORRECTED link to the location of the pawn shop:

http://goo.gl/maps/BHxz

The body shop were the immigration bust went down was a fixture of the neighborhood for many years and was known as Imperial Auto Body: http://goo.gl/maps/OwJZ

Wish I could find the house with the curved stairs in the backyard, have never seen that before.