Happy New Year

(John G. Avildsen, US 1987, 85 min., 35mm)

In this romantic-comedy remake of the Claude Lelouch film La bonne année, Peter Falk and Charles Durning star as Nick and Charlie, middle-aged crooks who plan to rob a high-end jewelry store in West Palm Beach. Their preparations involve very detailed disguises as elderly customers while they investigate the security in the store and the habits of the staff. What they don’t plan for is that Nick will fall in love with the owner of the antique store next door. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for its makeup, and Lelouch himself makes a cameo as one of the pair’s victims.