$

Dir. Richard Brooks

121 Minutes

USA

1971

Starring: Warren Beatty, Goldie Hawn, Gert Frobe, Robert Webber, Scott Brady

Richard Brooks' "$" has ambitions that reach for something more interesting than typical heist fare of the time, and even when it does not exactly work its propensity for experimentation is quite admirable. The film is divided into three distinct sections: first, bank security expert Joe (Warren Beatty) plots with call girl Dawn (Goldie Hawn) to rob the safe deposit boxes of three shady businessmen totaling to around 1.5 million. Second, the heist itself where, following a phony bomb threat, Joe locks himself into the vault under the pretense of protecting a 42 million dollar gold bar so that he can put the plot into action. And third, an extended chase scene where the guys go after Joe upon figuring out the plot. At times Brooks directs like he is working on a silent film, keeping dialogue to a minimum and almost entirely extraneous, however the first third of the film does require some extra work to piece together the early stages of Joe and Dawn's scheme. The heist scene and subsequent chase are both remarkably tense, and there is such simplicity in the actual robbery that the staging feels seamlessly constructed.

But Brooks stumbles in two pivotal ways: tone and character. The film bounces between light-hearted romp and more 70s grit, and some of the more slapstick cheer (mostly by Hawn's character) feels at odds with more menacing moments). And Dawn and Joe are mainly undeveloped, though the two of them are fueled by purely animalistic needs: Dawn turned on by the prospect of money, and Joe excited by the chaos of the whole thing. It is actually quite refreshing that the film is not bogged down by a love story between the two, and ending on the two of them in bed is more passion than romance. The film does not always work, but it aspires to be something beyond the genre and it shows.

May 21st, 2020