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THE HOT ROCK

Season 17’s 4x4 Hacks continues with Peter Yates’s return to directorial form and TGTPTU’s return to contentious split takes among its hosts with the heist caper THE HOT ROCK (1972).

Based on acclaimed crime writer Donald E. Westlake’s 1970 novel of the same name as covered in this week’s special book report coverage by guest Shannon and regular Tom, and the first of Westlake’s comedic Dortmunder series, the film stars—three years after playing the Sundance Kid—Robert Redford as the lead character John Dortmunder, a recently released (paroled in the book) criminal with, it’ll turn out, stomach problems (not in the book) and a brother-in-law (unrelated to Dortmunder in the book) fellow criminal Andy Kelp, played by George Segal.

Kelp ropes Dortmunder into a plan to heist a valuable diamond (an emerald in the book) for The Doctor (called The Major in the book) played Moses Gunn, a gem (the diamond, not Gunn, although many are fans of his work on stage and small and large screens) of great wealth and disputed ownership between two African countries, which doesn’t really matter much as Gunn’s character won’t get the treatment he does in the book. Mastermind Dortmunder and locksmith Kelp recruit two other thieves, the wheels who’s really into vehicles and likely can pilot a helicopter and the explosives expert who’s also the baby of the group who’ll turn out to be the son of a shyster lawyer (unrelated in the book) portrayed by Zero Mostel and his legendary eyebrows in a plot nicely summed by the flick’s British release title: How to Steal a Diamond in Four Uneasy Lessons.

Adapted for the screen by pod fav writer William Goldman, the film excises a fifth heist (or sixth, depending on its additional double-cross book ending at an airport) from the book, which, okay, it’s not the book. The book is mid, and the movie its Temu version for those who’ve read the book.

For the two hosts who haven’t read the book, the movie plays like an early draft of Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven or TGTPTU’s previously covered masterpiece Sneakers, which Ken and Ryan bait the youthful Thomas with The Hot Rock being a better film than Sneakers. Thomas bites and snaps hard. Meanwhile, also having read the book prior to watching Yates’ efforts at humor, guest Shannon fears the film takes so long getting started with Redford’s Dortmunder leaving prison that the movie might run out of filmstock before reaching its end.

As mentioned at the end of the preceding Krull episode, Sleater-Kinney’s 1999 album of the same name took its inspiration from this movie.

Toot! Toot!

THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.
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Podcast: goodpodugly
Ken: Ken Koral
Ryan: Ryan Tobias