The Hot Rock

Director: Peter Yates

Overview

"Peter Yates directs the early '70s comedy caper The Hot Rock, based on the Donald Westlake novel and adapted for the screen by William Goldman. Robert Redford stars as John Archibald Dortmunder, a former jewel thief just released from prison. His brother

Product Details

Release Date:	11/09/2004
UPC:	0024543075639
Original Release:	1972
Rating:	PG
Source:	20th Century Fox
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:40:00
Sales rank:	25,221

Special Features

Closed Caption; [None specified]

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert Redford	John Archibald Dortmunder
George Segal	Andrew Kelp
Zero Mostel	Actor
Ron Leibman	Murch
Paul Sand	Alan Greenberg
Moses Gunn	Dr. Amusa
William Redfield	Actor
Topo Swope	Actor
Charlotte Rae	Actor
Graham Jarvis	Actor
Harry Bellaver	Actor
Seth Allen	Actor
Robert Levine	Actor
Lee Wallace	Actor
Robert Weil	Actor
Lynne Gordon	Actor
Grania O'Malley	Actor
Frederic Cook	Actor,Otto
Charles White	Policeman
Mark Dawson	Actor
Gilbert Lewis	Actor
George Bartenieff	Actor
Ed Bernard	un policier
Christopher Guest	Policeman

Technical Credits

William Goldman

Donald E. Westlake

Hal Landers	Producer
Carey Loftin	Stunts
Bobby Roberts	Producer
William Goldman	Screenwriter
Donald E. Westlake	Screenwriter
James Sabat	Sound Effects
Theodore Soderberg	Sound Effects

Scene Index

Side #1 --
1. Main Titles
2. The Career Crook
3. Kelp
4. The Sahara Stone
5. The Money Man
6. Dortmunder's Decision
7. Family
8. Murch and Ma
9. Meeting of the Minds
10. Preparations
11. The Heist
12. Kelp Under Glass
13. Greenberg's Big Gulp
14. Look on the Bright Side
15. Getting Greenberg Out
16. The Break-In
17. The Breakout
18. Where's the Diamond?
19. Copter Crooks
20. Assault on Ninth Street
21. Dad's Little Secret
22. Stymied by a Signature
23. The Man With the Plan
24. Afghanistan Banana Stand
25. Double-Cross
26. The Hypnotic Heist
27. The Getaway
28. End Titles

Menu

Side #1 --
Play
Language Selection
Languages: English Stereo
Languages: English Mono
Languages: French Mono
Languages: Spanish Mono
Captions & Subtitles: English
Captions & Subtitles: Spanish
Captions & Subtitles: Off
Scene Selection
Special Features
Theatrical Trailer
Brubaker
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Editorial Reviews

Star Robert Redford allegedly considers it one of his lesser efforts, but The Hot Rock is a lightly funny diamond heist caper that warrants no shame. Crisply scripted by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid scribe William Goldman, and efficiently directed by Peter Yates, The Hot Rock mines laughs out of an exemplary early '70s odd couple pairing of Redford's smooth yet cursed master thief and George Segal's neurotic accomplice. Though the supporting players remain underdeveloped, Zero Mostel's bowler-hatted lawyer and Quincy Jones' jazzy score add extra juice to the proceedings. Constantly beset by Murphy's Law, the gang's serial attempts to retrieve the titular diamond reach a comic high point in a police station raid that features a lackadaisical captain and tongue-in-cheek jabs at the cops' fear of the late '60s counterculture. Shot on-location in New York, Yates turns the city's bad 1970s reputation into further fodder for humor, while the gang's approach to the police station via helicopter includes aerial shots of the unfinished World Trade Center. Lost in the shuffle of Redford's more prominent early '70s vehicles, The Hot Rock has since fallen further into obscurity, with Redford reportedly holding up its video issue for quite some time; fortunately, it was rereleased on home video in 2003.