The Brink’s Job (William Friedkin, USA, 1978, 104 min)
UW Cinematheque, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, September 19, 7pm»
I once did a heist movie marathon: 101 heist movies in 101 days. One of the things that I found was that 1978 was a great year for heist films, from Walter Hill’s masterful The Driver and Paul Schrader’s Blue Collar, to the underappreciated gems The Silent Partner and this week’s UW Cinematheque offering: William Friedkin’s The Brink’s Job.
Based on the true story of the Brink’s heist in 1950, the film charts the misadventures of small-time criminal Tony Pino (Peter Falk) and how he and his crew pulled off what was at the time the greatest heist in American history. After doing some prison time, Tony returns to his penny-ante larcenous ways with comically mixed success. When he lays eyes on the money inside the Boston Brink’s Building, and learns that Brink’s internal security is more bark than bite, he and his crew decide to take the building for all it’s worth.
As I said, Brink’s is an underappreciated gem, and playing a week after the first film in Cinematheque’s Friedkin retrospective—The French Connection—I can’t help but think of Brink’s in the shadow of Connection. For those who enjoyed last week’s screening (hopefully many of you) but aren’t familiar with this film, two things immediately become apparent. First, Friedkin is a filmmaker adept in many modes, including comedy. Most of this film’s laughs stem from old-fashioned physical gags or wit that is alternately shouted and muttered, and unlike many contemporary comedies, it is mostly unburdened by an ironic or cynical tone. The film has some drama too, but more on that below.
The second thing is that, despite this film’s many differences from The French Connection, there are some mechanical and narrative similarities. Most notably, Friedkin is a director who delights in the doggedness of his protagonists. Much as The French Connection had its several scenes of Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider pounding a beat or on many a burned out stakeout, The Brink’s Job takes its time in scenes of running recon and planning the heist. Admittedly, this kind of “cinema of process” is characteristic of the heist subgenre, but it ceaselessly delights me to see it executed with aplomb. And while not as hyperkinetic as the car chase in The French Connection, the Brink’s heist sequence is itself almost as exciting, partially because of the wonderfully rhythmic editing, and partially because of the deliberately leisurely way Friedkin has set it all up.
Like most good heist films, The Brink’s Job is an ensemble affair, with solid performances from Falk, Gena Rowlands, Peter Boyle, Paul Sorvino, and the rest of the crew. While each gets his or her moment in the spotlight, Warren Oates quite simply steals the show (as he is wont to do). His turn as Specs O’Keefe is the most complex performance of the movie, and though he doesn’t appear until after 40+ minutes into the film, his character and performance parallels much of the film’s trajectory. O’Keefe starts out as an affable misfit, whose over-the-top suggestions for blowing the Brink’s safe mirror the humorous bumbling of the crew earlier in the story. As the film moves along, Oates also conveys—in ways both blatant and nuanced—some of his character’s war trauma, which add a twinge of tragedy that reflects the shift later in the film to a somewhat more dramatic mode. The movie ends on a more positive and humorous note, but not before Oates manages to move you with his last scene.
With all of that, plus one of the funniest lines ever uttered by a judge onscreen, what’s not to love? Besides, if it’s anywhere near as beautiful as last week’s print of The French Connection, we’re all going to be in for a treat. And a great film, projected in 35mm, for free? That’s always the best kind of steal.