Reel Critics

Allen MacDonald

David Mamet’s “Heist” is a long and winding road of plot twists that

unfold at a dizzying rate. If you happen to blink, you risk missing

crucial information that will pay off in the movie’s final act. Not a

single word is wasted, every gesture is a clue building toward a

suspenseful conclusion. This film demands your full attention. Otherwise,

you’ll find yourself lost in a jungle of confusion, all alone without

water.

Gene Hackman plays Joe, an aging thief who is at the top of his game.

Typical of this genre, Joe is looking for one last score that’ll allow

him to retire in peace with his sexy, younger lover Fran and his beloved

sailboat (not necessarily in that order).

Mamet knows the heist film cliches, but chooses to embrace them,

turning each on its head. This is why “Heist” opens with Joe successfully

pulling off that final score with the help of his loyal crew, which

includes Fran, Bobby (Delroy Lindo) and Pinky (Ricky Jay). These guys are

as cool as cucumbers. Unfortunately, their employer Bergman (Danny

DeVito) plays the blackmail card, holding their hard-earned pay hostage

to secure their participation in a larger job: stealing Swiss gold off a

jet. Not surprisingly, danger and betrayal lurk around every corner. Let

the cat and mouse games begin.

Mamet delivers a solid caper thriller chalk full of his signature

dialogue: sharp, brutal and delivered with rapid-fire cadences. When his

characters speak, the rhythm of their delivery becomes as crucial as the

information it conveys. Joe and his crew jump off the screen full of

dimension and color. Even if you don’t approve of how they make a living,

you’ll marvel at the skill with which they pull it off.

Hackman will seduce you into admiring any character he plays, and this

remains true of his work here. His performance holds together a tightly

coiled story and keeps it from unraveling. What’s most fascinating about

Joe is his acting talent: in order to manipulate and deceive, he is

forced to give an Oscar worthy performance to whoever he’s dealing with,

even using the perception that he’s too old for the job to his advantage.

Joe can be charming, deceitful, loving and tough -- sometimes he may even

mean it, but Hackman’s layered performance prevents you from ever knowing

for sure.

Joe’s most compelling trait is his ability to trust in a world where

downfall is rooted in human weakness. Trust is a liability. But rather

than harden, Joe relies on a shrewd intuition that prevents him from ever

misplacing that trust. That’s the heart at the center of “Heist.”* ALLEN

MacDONALD, 28, is currently working toward his master’s degree in

screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.