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Thursday, April 17, 2014

Perfect Friday (1970)

A bank manager (Stanley Baker) recruits a snooty but impoverished aristocrat (David Warner) and his sexy wife (Ursula Andress) to help him rob the bank he works at. If done even halfway well, heist films are often intense (like Kubrick's THE KILLING) or stylish fun (like THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR). This modest sleeper is just plain fun. What's better than sexy? Funny and sexy, of course, as Marilyn Monroe proved and the glimpses of comedic talent that Andress sometimes displayed in her prior films come to fruition here. Whether it's the larcenous twinkle in her eye or her amoral grin, you can't help but hope she gets away with it. Baker and Warner don't have the same sparkle, they're rather drab but they provide a wonderful rapport for Andress to play off of. I suppose one could wish it were a tad better but it's such a pleasant and cunning charmer that I guess one should be grateful that it works as well as it does. The dull score by John Dankworth is no help and the direction by Peter Hall is no more than efficient. With Patience Collier, T.P. McKenna and Joan Benham.

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