User reviews

This was my introduction to my favorite author and his prized creation (under his name anyway) Donald Westalke's John Dortmunder and crew make for a great book, so far thirteen and counting. This movie is based on the first book and one of the best.

I won't get into the plot because it's been gone over before, but Peter Yates and William Goldman crafted a pretty fine entertaining film, it may not be as good as the book (in fact it's not) but it doesn't stray too far, you got Robert Redford who's good in about everything. When i was reading the books at first i pictured him as Dortmunder, but my mental image soon switched to Walter Matthau. Then George Segal is a pitch perfect Andy Kelp, i don't think anyone could have been better. As a gearhead, my favorite character of the series is the driver Stan Murch, and Ron Leibman embodies him perfectly.

Overall the film is much better then other adaptations like "Bank Shot" with George C. Scott, and "What's the Worst that Could Happen?" with Martin Lawrence, and only slightly better than "Why Me?" with Christopher Lambert, and if you haven't read any Donald Westlake, you should. You really should, start with any of the Dortmunder books, and you'll get hooked.

I saw this film for the first time when I was a kid of about 4th grade age. It hooked me then and has stuck with me ever since as an enjoyable, fun, light caper movie. Granted it is not deep, serious or complicated. You do, however, "get your money's worth" because there is more than one caper that gets pulled for the good guys to finally come out ahead. If you are looking for fun adventure with the 70's charm and very little violence and virtually no adult language, give this movie a try.

The Hot Rock has a soft spot in my heart because the area of Brooklyn where a lot of the film was shot, I know very well, Eastern Parkway, The Botanical Gardens and most of all The Brooklyn Museum I know very well from years of living in the Borough of homes and churches. The Brooklyn Museum is where the elusive Hot Rock resides or at least where it first resides.

Robert Redford is released from prison and his brother-in-law George Segal is there to greet him. As Redford says to warden Graham Jarvis there ain't no chance in hell he's going straight. Straight into another caper that Segal has lined up for him with Ron Leibman and Paul Sand.

The amiable team is hired by African ambassador Moses Gunn from some fictional central African country to get a national treasure, a rather large diamond on display at the Brooklyn Museum. They do steal the diamond, but through an incredible combination of circumstances have to plan and execute four different break-ins before The Hot Rock is in their hands.

Redford and Segal display a good chemistry, as good as the fabled co-starring chemistry of Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Why they were not heralded as a buddy combination is beyond me.

Stealing the film in whatever scenes they are in are shyster attorney Zero Mostel and his doofus of a son, Paul Sand. In the first caper at the museum, Sand gets caught and what he does with the diamond sets up the entire rest of the film.

As for Zero we find he's an attorney with absolutely no scruples whatsoever, the kind they make excellent lawyer jokes about. But he does give us some excellent laughs.

The Hot Rock is something on the order of an American domestic version of Topkapi. The laughs in it are good and strong, although some of the Seventies fashions make me wince. Despite that the film holds up well today. I'm surprised no one is thinking of remaking this one.

"The Hot Rock" is an unusual sort of caper film. In that, at times, the plot is a bit funny as well as ridiculous. Because of this, it stands out compared to the average crime film.

The story begins with Dortmunder (Robert Redford) getting out of prison. He is apparently a brilliant crook who has a habit of getting caught And, he's also learned nothing in the process as one of the first things he plans on doing is yet another robbery...this time with the help of his brother (George Segal) and a couple new guys (Rob Liebman and Paul Sand). What makes this robbery unusual at the beginning is that they are doing it for someone...a doctor who wants a diamond stolen because his country things it's theirs. But the robbery does NOT go as planned...and this sets up yet another crime...and another...and another. The problems keep snowballing...but Dortmunder is determined NOT to give up even when things seem hopeless.

The acting is very good in this one. Redford is fine....but the weird performances by Liebman, Sand and Zero Mostel really make this a quirky and enjoyable change of pace. Not a brilliant film but a very enjoyable one.

From time to time I get a craving for heist movies. And since I have seen most of the popular ones I always am on the search for other heist movies. While this small movie doesn't do anything spectacular I do consider this a classic. Robert Redford is very restrained and pretty serious in this movie. And this added to the hilarious events in the movie which you just have to see to believe it. At one time I even thought it was going to turn into a full mode slapstick comedy with no holds barred. But almost every actor remain straight faced and serious throughout the movie which only added to the fun experiencing this movie. "The Hot Rock" is a typical heist movie that only could have been made in the seventies. But even when the technological aspects in this movie seem outdated it never gets boring. Like any good heist movie you are rooting for the main characters to succeed especially when things don't go the way they planned. This movie has everything you want from a heist movie. And I find it rather strange that this movie is not so well known. A must watch!

Okay okay, Westlake's novels are always much better than the respective movies (take for example "What's the Worst that Could Happen"), but I must admit that director Peter Yates did a really good job. Dortmunder (the author was inspired to this name by the German beer!) is not much like Donald Westlake's original in the Dortmunder books, along with some of the other characters. Redford is too handsome. George C. Scott in "Bank Shot" was much more Dortmunderish (Westlake's master-crook John Archibald Dortmunder is worn down and pessimistic), but in the "Hot Rock" movie Yates catches the 'Zeitgeist', or spirit of the times. And that's enough.

Brilliant: Quincy Jones' soundtrack (with Gerry Mulligan playing the sax).

Another shaggy dog story by crime novelist Donald Westlake is smoothly adapted by William Goldman into this enjoyable caper flick, expertly directed by Peter Yates of BULLITT fame. Robert Redford heads the cast of kooky crooks -- others include George Segal, Ron Leibman and Paul Sand -- chasing after a big diamond purloined from an impoverished African nation. How they get it, lose it, and desperately try to get it back again makes for a pleasant time-waster. As usual, Zero Mostel steals the show as a sleazebag lawyer who's more crooked than the crooks. Other pluses include gritty location NYC photography by Ed Brown and a very cool score by Quincy Jones. Afghanistan-bananistan!

Dortmunder (Robert Redford) just left prison and vows to not do another job. He's wrangled immediately by his sister's man Kelp (George Segal) to do a job. Dr. Amusa (Moses Gunn) is paying for the heist who claims the gem was stolen from the African people.

The heist isn't sophisticated. There is a lot of Keystone Cops elements in this movie. It's cute bordering on funny. Dortmunder's frustration with Kelp's constant prodding is kind of funny. George Segal, Robert Redford, Paul Sand, and Ron Leibman make for the perfect antidote to the Ocean's movies. These guys make up for the lack of cool with an abundance of bumbling determination. Zero Mostel makes an appearance as Paul Sand's lawyer father. He has a bit fun. The movie is a bit of fun action from the early 70s.

A wonderful cast propels this warmly funny heist movie.As mentioned above-No sex, minute violence (knock on the head), no cussing-and totally entertaining.The cast Redford,Segal,Leibman and Paul Sand are all in top form. Add Zero Mostel and Moses Gunn and you'll find yourself watching with grin all the way through.Look fast for a very young Christopher Guest as a cop.Perfect score by Quincy Jones,and directer Peter Yates injects action into a nice prison break scene.I too, as a teen , saw this movie in the theater and it's still one of my favorites.... "But there are things you can have people do for you....Isn't that right Chicken?"......

A valuable gem is in a museum in N.Y. which is of great value to Dr. Amas. played by Moses Gunn, who approaches Dortmund, played by Robert Redford, because of its significance to his people in Africa which was stolen in colonial times. Dortmund assebles a crack team of cat burglars and has an elaborate plan for stealing back the gem. Circumstances and plain bad luck are both hilarious and stupefying. Under the cool direction of Peter Yates, the cast is perfect including Zero Mostel, George Segal, Ron Leibman, Charlotte Rae. The title threw me off; could have been called something better. 7/10

Looked at now, this seems a very dated "buddy/caper" movie from the early 70's. Neither as suspenseful as "Topkapi" or as humorous as "The Pink Panther", it hopes to get by mainly on its star appeal, as personified by Robert Redford and hot-at-the-time George Segal. However there's not much acting to be had; with a script bereft of substantial dialogue and a fair smattering of time-consuming stunts, our two heroes mainly just get to bark at each other and mug at the lens, all the more surprising when you appreciate the screenplay is by William Goldman, late scriptor of "Butch Cassidy", the epitome of "buddy" movies and its little brother, the soon-come "The Sting". Segal is no Newman however and it's obvious that Redford is very much the main man here, but other than giving us his preferred profile, he's rarely exercised in a film that looks as if it was more fun to be in than to watch. The attempts at humour are forced, painfully at times, the supporting cast also exaggerate their playing, none more so than the choice hunk of ham that is Zero Mostel as the movie moves episodically and elephantinely to its even more improbable ending (a safe-deposit bank employee gets hypnotised by the floor-selection buttons in a lift...!). Quincy Jones' cod-jazz soundtrack, peopled as it is by heavyweight musicians like Gerry Mulligan and Clark Terry, doesn't help either. I could go on about the unfunny set-pieces of the botched robbery at the museum, attempts to fly a helicopter and the saw-it-coming-around-the-corner bluff which wrings the required confession out of Mostel's "Dishonest Abe" character but other than a passing hindsight discomfort at seeing a low-flying aircraft circling the under-construction World Trade Centre buildings, there's really very little to say one way or another. In fact the biggest laugh for me was unintentional - the gang's agreeing to pull off the heist for a measly $25000 each, the effect akin to Dr Evil's latter-day demand for $1,000,000 to stop him destroying the world in "Austin Powers". The 70's threw up some fine contemporary movies (many of which starred and were enhanced by Redford - "Three Days Of The Condor", "The Candidate" and "All The President's Men" to name but three). Here however he's coasting in a flaccid movie that does little for the reputations of cast and crew.

Dortmunder is just out of jail and his brother-in-law Kelp has a job lined up for them. It would seem that a guy called Dr. Amusa is desperate for a valuable sapphire that is of extreme significance to his African people. Of course it's in a highly secured museum, of course it's going to take great planning with a top trustworthy crew, and of course things are not going to go to plan!.

Starring Robert Redford {Dortmund} and George Segal {Kelp} in the lead roles, and based on the Donald E. Westlake page turning novel, The Hot Rock has many good things going for it. Instead of a run of the mill crime caper we get a well scripted picture that has fun oozing from every frame. As the film progresses, our ensemble of crooks lurch from one bad luck scenario to another, it's impossible not to side with our charmingly unlucky thieves. Redford and Segal play off each other very well, some of the looks they share between each other are comedy gold on their own, both men apparently having fun with William Goldman's zippy screenplay. Amongst all the hilarity the picture has a cool 70s vibe to it, director Peter Yates finding a happy medium between comedy and crime drama, don't go in expecting a world beating piece of cinema and i'm sure you will enjoy this piece. 7/10

The hot rock is a stone that was inherited by many generations in Africa according to a African doctor, (Moses Gunn). However, it's effect is something else. The stone is located inside a measure on display inside a rectangular shaped glass structure. It hasn't been touched ever since. Well... until now.

Taking place in New York City, The Hot Rock is a caper comedy directed by Peter Yates. This was Yates' latest film since his biggest success in Bullitt, which was released 4 years ago. The problem is that Bullitt is a serious crime thriller that took place in San Francisco and dealt with very well detailed characters. The police matter in that was so pure and interesting that at least the viewer had to admired what was on the big screen. The Hot Rock, on the other hand, is perhaps the most unlikely film to be directed by Yates. The story is based on a book written by Donald Westlake, who specializes in writing about the latest adventures of a thief called Dortmunder.

Dortmunder, (Robert Redford), is released from jail and is told by his partner in crime, (George Segal), that an rare African stone is located inside a museum in Manhattan. Knowing this information, Dortmunder refuses to go along with the plan. So, he ensembles a crack team including an loudmouth, (Ron Leibman), an honest criminal, (Paul Sand), who's father, (Zero Mostel), is a lawyer. After the heist goes wrong and one of Redford's guys goes to prison, they realized that the stone was taken by Sand's character who swallowed it. The rest of the movie follows the crack team as they tries to retrieve the diamond so that they can get on with their lives. There's a lot of things that goes wrong while trying to get this tricky gem. First, the boys tries to retrieve it by opening up the sewer line in the jailhouse. Then, Redford threatens to kill Sand if he doesn't tell where the rock is.

All of this is pretty repetitive, but what interests me the most is the way the movie uses its charm to cut through the repeating story. Yes, this is perhaps way different than Yates' other movie Robbery, which was taken seriously. I suppose he is trying to make a effort to break into the comedy genre while still trying to tell a story that involves crime. It does work in this movie, but I still think the performances by Redford and his crew are somehow jaded. It's seems as if these actors are waiting around to get the stone back without having to break out of character.

Of course, there are some funny bits in this movie. My favorite is when Redford threatens to kill Sand and his father by throwing them both down an elevator shaft. You should see the look on Mostel's face when he said that he doesn't have the stone. Out of everything that works in this comedy caper, this scene works completely on its own.

The movie does have other humorous scenes involving Segal trying to steal the gem while Redford and Sand try their very best to hold up the heavy glass casing, trapping Segal inside the display case. That scene looks like it was borrowed from some of the famous 1920's silent comedies. But, the question is, does it worked? Yes, it does. It's rare that The Hot Rock wasn't a big success as Bullitt because maybe the comedy just didn't flow well into the crime matter of the story. The flow does work in this hilarious film and I'll tell you that it would be a whole lot more funnier if they put in more funny bits. That would something else. ★★★ 3 stars.

Redford is Dortmunder, just released from prison. and he's quickly offered another heist by his friend Kelp (George Segal). Murch (Ron Leibman) and Greenberg, the bomb guy, (Paul Sand... record exec from Can't Stop the Music). they steal a jewel from a museum, kind of. but the adventure isn't over yet... they have to keep chasing after it. for one reason or another. some twists and turns along the way. Zero Mostel is the lawyer. bit parts for Charlotte Rae and Chris Guest. it's pretty good. a slow boil, as they say. directed by brit peter yates. nominated for the Dresser, Breaking Away, and... Hot Rock. he directed a couple spy type things... Secret Agent and The Saint. then Mother, Jugs, and Speed. Bullitt won for Best Editing. Book by Donald Westlake. Westlake had TONS of his books made into films.

Donald Westlake writes wonderful, funny caper novels. Elmore Leonard writes wonderful, funny caper novels. *Why* can't Hollywood do them better justice? "Get Shorty" was a wonderful, funny caper movie. "The Hot Rock" has potential, but just doesn't make it. Excrutiatingly long breaking into and breaking out of scenes. Really bad editing so you just don't know who's doing what. When producers take these sorts of books they should stick to the written word, and most especially the dialogue as written in the book. Westlake's characters are great in the book, and for the most part, the actors in this movie do them justice. But rather than film them climbing once more over a wall, or chicken-walking down a really long boring white hall -- let them talk. And let us hear them. Focus on the characters, and how they are unique. I don't *care* about prison walls or prison hospitals or how many doors lead into a bank vault.

The Hot Rock is Peter Yates' goofy, likable crime comedy about some goofy, likable crooks – all of them, in that small gang they forge, going through their own respective Hell in trying apprehend a diamond they've been employed to steal. The film works because of Yates' ability to keep things moving at the tremendous pace that he does, the film effectively a series of causality driven set pieces leading from one to the other as these guys try to come into possession of the Macguffin, of which each are as funny and as involving and as creative enough to make the film worth one's while. The text began life as a straight up heist novel; a leaner, meaner piece as penned by Donald Westlake sometime in the late 1960s to add to his already increasing canon of Parker (later Walker, then Porter, under various filmic guises) books that had been published. Yates plays it as a straight up caper comedy, without any slow; gradual; misplaced realisation that it's going to get nastier as things progress - it is very much the sort of film in which the lead crook is robbed of his watch, at knife-point, outside of a police station and in a very specific way that just makes it quite funny without necessarily being overly nasty.

That lead crook is a certain John Dortmunder, played by Robert Redford in a role that predates The Sting by about a year; a man out on the streets after yet another prison stretch who is eyed within minutes of his release by his equally criminally minded brother-in-law Andy Kelp (Segal). The two men share an odd relationship; Kelp is this pink shirt wearing, rather highly-pitched voiced man whom takes a slap in the face from Dortmunder but humorously chases him down anyway via his car and pins him into a location so as to speak to him. Kelp is bringing Dortmunder into an operation organised by an African United Nations representative named Amusa (Gunn), a man who wants them to steal that of a diamond; the titular hot rock; a diamond which belonged to his forefathers but was stolen from them and that has since been thrust up into the air in terms of ownership, shifting possession from tribe to tribe and colonial master to colonial master like a free addition of a daily newspaper on a mainline. Presently, the diamond is there for the taking whilst inside of an exhibition at a New York museum.

Amusa, despite being the man of distinction that he is, rejects the more modern; more regimented notions of paperwork and the courts to decide who's "tribe" or "side" the rightful owner of this jewel is, and has turned to a more old fashioned labour of theft and crime to take what he wants. Brought in, after Dortmunder reluctantly accepts the proposal, is a demolitions expert named Greenberg (Sand) and that of Murch (Leibman), a petrol-head if ever there was one, whose base of operation is right beside that of a highway featuring numerous lanes in each direction and whose recordings of car engines filling the room of his garage plays to him like beautiful music would to us. Schemes are cooked up and plans go awry; we marvel at the manner in which these people, clearly gifted in that art of thinking and deducing if it means swiping something that isn't theirs, concoct such audacious ideas, that come across as fail-proof before being put into action, only to unravel at their very seams in what is writing that takes time to build an idea before gleefully knocking back down again with escalated creativity.

The film has a distinct charm to its proceedings, whether it's because of the fact we're asked to assume that a bunch of security guards can be fooled into thinking the bandits are trapped the other side of a door marked 'exit', or something else, remains somewhat elusive. The allure is in the processes the four leads go through; the wit and interplay they share between them, but always the creativity behind the concocting of audacious stunts to try and swing the tide back to their favour. Where immense pleasure is derived from the creativity therein of the writing of these people and their ideas they cook up, there is that masochistic ring to proceedings when it becomes prominent those in charge of such stamps of creativity are taking more pleasure in laying out the proverbial trail of elastic to trip these guys up than they are enjoying them get away with an ingenious idea. Never do we feel that these people are of the really hardened criminally minded sort, a notion the film plays with when, during one instance, the guys must act as exactly this in order to fool someone into thinking their life's in danger; the scene is played with a blind goofiness that keeps everything in check, these people are consistent to their behaviour and Yates to the tone of the film, but the piece is about a group of men going through some thoroughly inconsistent times, and our pleasures derived from watching them react to that is the point.

This movie is great. I don't know how I missed it. All of the actors work well together. It is one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. Mr. Redford is a great comedian. Even though I missed it at the movies, thank goodness for satellite.

I have never seen a heist movie where it takes four separate heists just to get the first heist finished! What could go wrong goes wrong in this fun and unexpected heist...which I loved for something it didn't have...a lot of shooting and violence.

And my favorite part is the end! There is nothing better than a smile.

Disastrous heist film that I recommend.

"You take failure too hard. I don't mind it so much anymore."-Murch.

From the moment our hero Dortmunder (Robert Redford) is released from prison, that's good. But immediately he comes under attack and that's bad. Fortunately it's his Brother-in-law (George Segal) and that's good, who then offers him a job in a new crime caper and that's bad. However the man who hires them is called Dr. Amusa (Moses Gunn, superb character acting) is rich, and that's good, but he wants them to break into a top security Museum to steal an extremely valuable diamond worth millions and that's bad. However, since the doctor is willing to front all materials necessary to facilitate the theft, that's good, but once they enter the museum and get the precious stone, the thieves cannot seem to hang onto it and that's bad. Still, they are determined to retrieve the elusive gem and that's good. Throughout the movie, one cannot help rooting for the hapless thieves as their simple crime seems to take on a life of it's own and the hilarity of it all makes for a superb film which is destined to become a Classic. The cast of this film is exceptional as we have Ron Leibman playing Murch, Paul Sand as Greenberg and the incomparable Zero Mostel as Abe Greenburg. Altogether this movie is highly recommended to anyone in search of great entertainment. ****

Donald Westlake is better known for the adaptation of his hard boiled crime thrillers.

He also wrote comedic crime capers as well. The Hot Rock is more laid back and less violent.

Robert Redford is career criminal Dortmunder who keeps doing time.

Upon release from prison, his brother in law Kelp (George Segal) has a new job lined up.

Stealing the valuable gem the Sahara Stone on behest of a small African nation.

Dortmunder's gang is bankrolled by Dr Amusa the African dignitary but nothing goes according to plan. The rock proves elusive and they need to make new elaborate plan to retrieve it.

Zero Mostel plays an unscrupulous lawyer who you know will just double cross the gang.

With likeable performances from Redford and Segal. This is a solid and entertaining film with good use of New York locations.

Not a bad film but just dumb enough to be a bit of a turn-off. Good location filming in Central Park and various areas of the Big Apple were the high point for me. With that said Segal and Redford gave their usual fine performances.