Harry in Your Pocket

How many of you movie fans actually REMEMBER Walter Pidgeon? This role is off beat for him but what a great time we have sharing it. "It is what I do!" is one of the great lines in filmdom. There are so few films made now that can get and keep one's attention. (Attention Deficit Disorder no doubt is caused by disjointed, bad editing in Hollywood.) This film allows us to enter a world unknown to most of us...and offers a good lesson too...i.e., know where your wallet is at all times! It's great fun! James Coburn was never better.

How can you enjoy a film about pickpockets that isn't a comedy, but a deep, emotional analysis of the fall of two master cannons (street slang for pickpockets) and the training of the next generation?

Easy.

Offbeat, it wasn't shot in glorious LA or New York or Chicago, but in Salt Lake City, the plain states and Canada. Featuring the always intense James Coburn as the titular character, with the great and glorious Walter Pidgeon as his aging, cocaine addicted mentor, supported by then rising stars Michael Sarrazan (fresh off his success in "The Groundstar Conspiracy") and Trish VanDevere (pre-George C.Scott), it took a peek behind the veil at one of the world's oldest professions, in your face robbery without the victim every knowing it.

Light and breezy during the small capers, but dark and brooding during the intervals, we see a changing of the guard, but one not born of pomp and ceremony, but of despair, loneliness and resignation.

The other posters are right. It would never be made these days. No sex, violence, guns, backstabbing, revenge or enough neon. So, hopefully, they'll never try to remake it and ruin the memory of a classic.

Harry in your pocket is not a lost masterpiece but more of a lost movie of the decade that was famous for it's crime genre cinema. It's one of the better Coburn films of the 70's and pretty decent all around. All four principal characters take the equal burden of the story, which never becomes boring, predictable or tedious. There are some great scenes that show us the tricks of the trade, but every bit of it remains interesting to the end. Walter Pigeon and James Coburn lead the way in a story of life on a day to day basis, never looking beyond tomorrow, and doing a job that might just take you down in flames, so enjoy it while you can. And they do, best clothes, best hotels, best food and coke, but never in one place for more than a week. Michael Sarrazin and lovely Trish Van Devere are great as well as a no future lovers who immerse themselves in Harry's combustible world of fast money and quick pleasures. The job is risky and takes it's toll, that's how it goes and the ending serves the story. I don't know why this movie wasn't released on DVD but it surely deserves the attention of all fans of 70's cinema. Find and enjoy.

A terrific Coburn vehicle. Great job by Walter Pidgeon showing why he lasted so long as a supporting player. The scenes in all of the various western cities are great.

Showing people who strive to learn an ancient "trade" rather than work for a living! I really enjoyed this. It adds so much to Coburns' legend.

How else do you live in fancy hotels and meet beautiful people unless you have a real secret of success.

Always remember, "Harry doesn't carry."

Coburn is certainly a guy I will miss.

Hollywood in the oughties could never make a film like Harry In Your Pocket. With its 'glorification' of pickpocketing, its characters who are utterly charming and utterly without remorse, and its downbeat ending, this film would end up on the trash heap or go straight to cable. It's a reminder of how glorious American film was in the late 60s and early 70s, and how straitjacketed it is at present. Not quite a classic, but still worth catching for James Coburn and Walter Pidgeon.