Sunday, April 20, 2014

***Where The Dough Is-Redux-Redux-Sean Connery’s The Andersen Tapes  






DVD Review

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

The Andersen Tapes, Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, 1971

Okay, okay I have beaten the old saw about Willie Sutton, the legendary old time bank robber, and his response to the question of why he robbed banks to death in reviewing a string of robbery films to death (The Ocean trilogy and The Thomas Crown Affair make and re-make). For the clueless old Willie’s response was “that was where the money was.” That same principle applies to the film under review, Sean Connery’s The Andersen Tapes, except Duke Andersen’s burglary bailiwick extended beyond banks to casing plush upscale Upper East Side New York City residences. Going where the fence friendly valuables were.      

Let’s set the scene. Duke, a career burglary, freshly sprung from a stir after doing a dime for some ill-disposed mistake decided the minute he got out to go back into business. He had a plan, had an inside take on the job (his kept woman girlfriend resided there), had some guys lined up and all he needed was a little seed money to put the operation together. Of course fresh out of stir guys are not good collateral risks to lend to for banks so he has to go to “the man,” the fixer man, to see if he could raise some kale. What he/the fixer man did not know was that the coppers, state and feds, were listening in to the fixer man’s conversations (and those of others too) and so they are vaguely but definitely aware that some high-end caper will be going down.          

Of course all Duke cares about from his end is getting back on easy street with one big caper pay-out so he can “pay the freight “ for his kept woman girlfriend (played by Dyan Cannon). And by his lights the thing went well for a while, he got his seed money, hired who he needed to hire, they cased the joint, set the date and moved out and pulled it off-mostly. Except technology and not even high technology got the best of the operation. So jerk kid used his ham radio network to snitch to the cops. So no Duke, will not be sitting on easy street with his honey anytime soon. Nor will his confederates.    

No comments:

Post a Comment