A Man, a Woman and a Bank

Businessman Reese Halperin (Donald Sutherland) and computer programmer Norman Barrie (Paul Mazursky) are two unlikely criminals. They think that their plan to rob a bank is perfect. Halperin is carrying the floor plans when photographer Stacey Bishop (Brooke Adams) takes his picture. He needs the pictures back.

This is a smaller caper film with some great actors. Sutherland and Adams are back together. They have nice chemistry. Adams is adorable. Sutherland is a great leading man. They have a great initial meet-cute although his later anger is a bit too much. A brisk rejection would work better cinematically. I would like the caper to be more interesting. I appreciate the model of the caper at the beginning, but it's not the most illuminating. Marker and paper would be superior. In the end, the caper does not have enough tension. I love these actors. This is one of their lesser movies.

A breezy rom-com that includes a bank heist but without the usual tension and action.

---------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Deliberately botched (for the "it's so bad it's good" crowd) 2 I don't want to see it 3 I didn't finish and or FF'd through it 4 Bad 5 I don't get it 6 Good 7 Great but with a major flaw 8 Great 9 Noir with moral 10 Inspiring with moral.

Bank in Vancouver, still under construction, is the target for robbery by a slick computer programmer/con-man (Donald Sutherland, with fluffy strawberry-blond hair) and his computer genius pal (Paul Mazursky), who's a hypochondriac; the "woman" of the title is professional photographer Brooke Adams, whom Sutherland falls for after she mistakes him for an executive and snaps his picture (the two are reunited here from 1978's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"). Somewhat dippy, but not-bad crime-comedy from screenwriters Raynold Gideon, Bruce A. Evans and Stuart Margolin, from a treatment by Gideon and Evans, was the first and only film to come out of teen actress Kristy McNichol's niche production company, McNichol (although she doesn't appear). There's a gross, scary neighbor of Brooke's I could have done without (he's into whipped cream sex!), but the star-trio are a very smooth combination. Director Noel Black and cinematographer Jack Cardiff show a breezy touch with scenes that include movement (particularly in the graceful opening), and the logistics of the caper are well-considered. **1/2 from ****

Starting watching it the other night. I'm a sucker for '79 filmed in Vancouver movies. Rated 22% favorability by Xfinity TV rating system. Expected zero. Expected to stop watching because it would be so bad in a few minutes. Surprise. Thought it was a super movie. Probably, because I expected so little. Usually how those things work. Look for it. Enjoy.

Donald Sutherland and Paul Marzursky are planning a bank robbery when Sutherland begins an affair with photographer Brooke Adams. In a stretching of their usual screen personas, Marzursky is neurotic and Miss Adams is quirky. DP Jack Cardiff shoots Vancouver which, for a change, is supposed to be Vancouver.

It's an okay movie, which thirty years earlier would have been an ordinary programmer, or even a B movie. Unexceptional, some good moments, but adds nothing substantial to anyone's career, although I'm sure everyone worked their hardest.