This was my introduction to my favorite author and his prized creation (under his name anyway) Donald Westalke's John Dortmunder and crew make for a great book, so far thirteen and counting. This movie is based on the first book and one of the best.
I won't get into the plot because it's been gone over before, but Peter Yates and William Goldman crafted a pretty fine entertaining film, it may not be as good as the book (in fact it's not) but it doesn't stray too far, you got Robert Redford who's good in about everything. When i was reading the books at first i pictured him as Dortmunder, but my mental image soon switched to Walter Matthau. Then George Segal is a pitch perfect Andy Kelp, i don't think anyone could have been better. As a gearhead, my favorite character of the series is the driver Stan Murch, and Ron Leibman embodies him perfectly.
Overall the film is much better then other adaptations like "Bank Shot" with George C. Scott, and "What's the Worst that Could Happen?" with Martin Lawrence, and only slightly better than "Why Me?" with Christopher Lambert, and if you haven't read any Donald Westlake, you should. You really should, start with any of the Dortmunder books, and you'll get hooked.
