The Bank Shot
The Bank Shot
PG | 31 July 1974 (USA)
The Bank Shot Trailers

A bank temporarily housed in a mobile home while a new building is built, looks like an easy target to break into. On the other hand, why not steal the whole bank, and rob it in a safer location.

Reviews
Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen
ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
lapratho This may be the one that George C Scott cringed about, but WHAT a laugh it was! Certainly not an intellectual feast, but why should every movie be just that? I like my mind to be tickeled, but laughs are always welcome and badly needed to! This is one of those movies that is small and light and fluffy and is simply truly great entertainment, simply because it is so unpretentious. If you want a break from every day life, this is great watching with gags galore, and it is precisely Scott's very annoyed attitude that makes it work. His "Leave me alone you crazies" attitude makes the other characters carry through a vision of a crazy world, that is despite its outrageous insanity closer to the truth of every day senselessness than we all would admit. I first saw this one as a kid, and I can still laugh about it. It is from the same period as "Harold and Maude" and while by no means carrying any social or philosophical comments like Harold and Maude, it certainly has that irreverent flair of the 70s. Does a movie always have to be serious? Whatever happened to simple laughter and charme and the kind of babedom and sexiness displayed by a young Joanna Cassidy? Every character punched through and was flavorful and strong. I will also take this movie's camera-work over anything done with the 90s vintage (and still in use) "new look" stupid jiggling camera and zoomiezoom wiggle-jiggle and zoom-in-zoom-out-pretending-to-be-documentary stuff that makes me sea sick and makes me hit the "off" button regardless of what the story line may be! This one is one of my all time favorite comedies , and I don't care what critics think or Scott thought! It feels right and it lives in a different world. Now isn't also what movies can be all about?
royiscool86 Donald Westlake's Dortmunder are a terrific series of caper books about a career crook with bad luck. "Bank Shot" may very well be the best of the bunch, well the funniest anyway. But the movie fails on many levels.First off there's the casting, George C. Scott wasn't a horrible choice, if he had a good script he would have worked fine, Sorrell Booke wasn't the best choice, though i love to see him in something other than "The Dukes of Hazzard," Don Calfa is okay as the driver from the books, but Frank McRae was great as Hermman X.If you want to see a pretty good Dortmunder movie, watch "The Hot Rock" with Robert Redford or "Why Me?" with Christopher Lambert. Watch out of curiosity, at least its closer to the books than "What's the Worst that Could Happen?"
Bob Fingerman Why can't Dortmunder catch a break? It's bad enough for him that his capers always go awry in the great book series by master plotter Donald E. Westlake, but that's the joy of those fictions. But to have such lousy movies based on his exploits is insult on injury (and irks this particular fan).The fact is that every Dortmunder flick I've seen has been awful, and this one is no exception. Okay, so they changed the character names (no doubt because the rights were tied up), but name aside, Walter Upjohn Ballentine is still a weird interpretation of the John Archibald Dortmunder from the books. Where did that lisp come from? And the crazy eyebrows? Did Scott contribute those affectations or was he directed to do so? Scott might have actually been good had he played the character as written, but this whole movie is so misdirected (in every sense) and miscast I wonder why they even bothered. It's so strange. Westlake's Dortmunder novels could practically be shot as written (with little trimming for time considerations), yet the filmmakers who tackle these undertakings seem bent on ignoring the timbre of the books and making unwatchable crap.In the books the characters are much more calm, cool and collected. Everyone in this is shrill, stupid and over-the-top.Best avoided.
Coxer99 Scott cringes when this film is brought up and rightly so; it's one of those capers that start all stops out, but then have nowhere else to go. Gags that have potential and a cast that could have worked a little harder, but the biggest problem was the amatuerish script and the obvious look of boredom on the face of star Scott. If you didn't want to do the film...why did you sign on for it?I'd like to know.