Loot

Er......that's because it is a play. A play PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY. Did I mention it is a well known play in England? It's a rather good play.

I have seen this play on stage a few times and I must say that it really does work better there. On screen, even though that does allow for greater location flexibility, the story/farce is just a little too undercooked and slapstick here for my liking. It all centres around "Hal" (Roy Holder) and his pal "Dennis" (Hywel Bennett) who have managed to rob a bank. One works in a funeral parlour, so they hit on the idea of stashing their ill-gotten gains in an as yet unoccupied coffin and to lie low for a while. Hot on their trail is the razor-sharp, wandering-handed, "Insp. Truscott" (Richard Attenborough) and as their secret proves difficult to keep, they have to manage the venal expectations of nurse "Fay" (Lee Remick) too. Like so many of it's genre, the humour is very visual and unsophisticated. Again, on stage that exudes a certain adult pantomime feel to it. On screen, that misses much more often than it hits and the pair of them carrying around their cash in the altogether whilst delivering some rather crude, innuendo-ridden, dialogue smacked more of a "Carry On Coffin" type affair. The ending has a twist and that does raise a smile and Milo O'Shea injects a gentle mischief now and again, but that's not enough to carry the rest of this rather crass and mediocre comedy drama.

"Loot" is a British comedy based on a Joe Orton play with a dark, funny premise. Young men manage to steal money from a bank vault, attempt to hide it in a coffin that already holds a body, remove the body, and then are stuck attempting to hide both.

Hywel Bennett plays Dennis, one of the young robbers, who lays every woman in sight; Milo O'Shea plays his father; Richard Attenborough is the Inspector on the bank case; and Lee Remick plays a sexy nurse caring for Dennis' mother and looking for a rich man. I confess it took me a while to recognize her. She looks totally different here as a sexy, bombshell blonde, and speaks with an accent.

This is a very '60s film, sort of Carry on Doctor Meets Caper Film, and some of it comes off as a little tired and frantic today. Still, the acting is good, and it is an amusing story. Made even a few years later, it might have been a darker and tighter film.

You can't go wrong when Galton and Simpson adapt an Orton play.

Very black, very funny, and gloriously captures the end of the swinging sixties with the Dennis and Hal's curious way of getting out of a parking ticket.

Roy Holder and Hywel Bennett are perfectly cast as the roguesh but likable main characters, and the supporting players help to carry the film along at a pace.

Ultimately a very enjoyable film, and I can only roll my eyes at the thought of it being compared to Weekend at Bernies - where Loot has black humour, Bernies only has slap stick.

You can tell throughout "Loot" that it is trying real hard to be an edgy black comedy. However, it doesn't even compare to the much funnier "Weekend At Bernie's". Why do I compare the two? Because both involve a corpse that moves around a lot.

A couple of young men easily steal a bunch of money from a bank vault. The bank is right next to a funeral parlor and they hide the money in a coffin. Not an empty coffin...one with a body in it. Well, they can't fit all the money into the coffin so they take the body out in order to make room for their stash of cash.

Craziness ensues as the two men try to hide both the money and the corpse from relatives and the police. It seems to go on and on and on. To make things worse, most of the story takes place in a hotel. This probably would've made a more interesting play rather than a movie. 2/10