Crackers (1984)

Director:

Louis Malle

Writer:

Jeffrey Alan Fiskin (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 February 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

The Comedy that dreams the impossible scheme! [Video Australia]

Plot:

Garvey is a San Francisco pawnshop operator. His unemployed and criminal friends Dillard, Turtle, and Weslake...

Plot Keywords:

Pawnshop | Burglary | Gay Couple | Caper | One Word Title

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Donald Sutherland	...	Weslake
Jack Warden	...	Lou Garvey
Sean Penn	...	Don Dillard
Wallace Shawn	...	Turtle
Larry Riley	...	Boardwalk
Trinidad Silva	...	Ramon
Christine Baranski	...	Maxine
Irwin Corey	...	Lazzarelli
Edouard DeSoto	...	Don Fernando Pablo Jesus de la Vaca
Anna Maria Horsford	...	Slam Dunk
Mitchell Lichtenstein	...	Artiste
Charlayne Woodard	...	Jasmine
Tasia Valenza	...	Maria Elena Mercedes
Marjorie Eaton	...	Mrs. O'Malley
Ed Call	...	Officer Darney (as Edward Call)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | USA:PG (certificate #27176) | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-12

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Movie Connections:

Remake of I soliti ignoti (1958)

Soundtrack:

We Got More Than We Need

Not as bad as its reputation suggests, but with that cast and director...

"Crackers" falls into that category of films that have failed quite inexplicably - helmed by a great director, starring a cast of assured veterans (Sutherland, Warden) and talented newcomers (Penn, Baranksi) and written by the screenwriter of one of the best films of the eighties ("Cutter's Way"). Then why is it that no one talks about the film anymore? Firstly, the film has been made far more successfully on two other occasions in the guise of "Big Deal on Madonna Street" and then recently "Welcome To Collinwood". Secondly, Malle must have been going through an eighties dance music phase when he made the film because it is effectively ruined by an utterly dated and abysmal soundtrack - with a proper film score it would have been a far better film. Lastly, Sutherland gives what is probably his most broad and embarrassingly unfunny performance in the lead, subsequently hindering any sympathy for his character. There are other qualms (what exactly is the purpose of Baranski's character, lets throw in a slut for some wacky comedy?) but it is nevertheless still quite watchable. Shawn, who would collaborate with Malle on the acclaimed films "My Dinner With Andre" and "Vanya on 42nd Street", is very funny as the forever-eating Turtle and Penn is amusing in a dumb hood role he would practically resume for "We're No Angels", another film with a great director, writer and cast that would be a critical and commercial failure. No film made by Malle could be truly bad, and this isn't, but it is neither as quirky or funny as it wants to be.