(Peter Yates, US 101 min., DCP)
Redford’s second film of 1972 is this comic heist thriller based on the first book of a series written by Donald W. Westlake. As soon as John Dortmunder (Robert Redford) is released from prison for a heist gone wrong, his brother-in-law, Andy Kelp (George Segal), picks him up with an idea for their next job: stealing the Sahara Stone, an object of cultural value to Dr. Amusa (Moses Gunn), from a New York City museum. They put a plan together and have a team in place, but one slip-up the night of the robbery forces the team into a series of increasingly daring and dangerous heights just to get their head above water. With clear allusions to 1950s French crime films, the editing of the film was recognized by the Academy.