Robert Redford Boldly Plays Against Type in This Comedy Heist Film (2024)

There was perhaps no more underrated actor throughout the 1970s than Robert Redford. Although he was never lacking for good roles, he wasn't often thought to be in the same league as his contemporaries. His stunning good looks made him seem more like a product of the Old Hollywood studio system, out of place in the more naturalistic New Hollywood. He was rarely given credit for the ways in which he subverted his pretty boy image, as he did in films as varied as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, or The Electric Horseman. One of the most underappreciated examples of this was in Peter Yates’ 1972 heist comedy The Hot Rock.

Redford plays John Dortmunder, an expert thief who's barely gotten out of prison before his brother-in-law, Andy Kelp (George Segal), recruits him to steal a priceless diamond from the Brooklyn Museum. The diamond once belonged to an African nation, and Dr. Amusa (Moses Gunn) is willing to pay $100,000 for its return. Dortmunder agrees to take on the job, enlisting Allan Greenberg (Paul Sand) to handle explosives and Stan Murch (Ron Leibman) to drive the getaway car. Yet their simple plan turns increasingly complicated and costly as the diamond slips further out of their grasp. Dortmunder becomes consumed with snagging the hot rock, and Redford shows off his comedic side by playing his character's absurd obsession with absolute sincerity.

The Hot Rock

PG

Crime

Comedy

John Dortmunder, a career criminal, gathers a group of skilled accomplices to pull off a daring heist: stealing a prized diamond, the Sahara Stone, from a well-guarded museum. The initial theft is botched, setting off a chain of increasingly complex and humorous attempts to retrieve the gem. As the team faces a series of setbacks and close calls, their determination and ingenuity are put to the test.

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Release Date

January 26, 1972

Director

Peter Yates

Cast

Robert Redford , George Segal , Ron Leibman , Paul Sand , Moses Gunn

Runtime

101 Minutes

Main Genre

Crime

Writers

William Goldman

Budget

4895000.0

Studio(s)

Landers-Roberts Productions , 20th Century Fox

'The Hot Rock' Is a Comedic Twist on the Heist Movie Genre

Throughout his directorial career, Yates garnered an esteemed reputation for crafting gritty, hard-edged crime thrillers. The most famous of these was 1968's Bullitt, which cast Steve McQueen as a San Francisco police detective who was so cool he seemed almost to be carved out of ice. That film set a new bar for high octane action thrills with its famous car chase, and McQueen solidified his status as Hollywood's smoothest leading man.

Given its premise, one would expect The Hot Rock to be of a similar style and tone to Bullitt, and for Redford to follow in McQueen's footsteps. He certainly had the chiseled looks and cool persona to play a career criminal whose skills at stealing are only matched by his luck with women. At that time, Redford had become famous for playing either a romantic lead (Barefoot in the Park, This Property Is Condemned) or a devilish outlaw (The Chase, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), and on paper, Dortmunder would look to be in keeping with those characters. What's fascinating about Dortmunder, and the way Redford plays him, is that while he may think he's starring in a Steve McQueen movie, he's actually in something more akin to a Marx Brothers comedy.

Robert Redford Turns a Criminal's Obsession Into Comedy

Anyone who has seen a heist movie knows the formula backwards and forwards: a charismatic thief assembles a motley crew to lift something pricey from a seemingly impenetrable fortress. What's ingenious about The Hot Rock, which was written by two-time Oscar-winner William Goldman (Butch Cassidy, All the President's Men), is that the heist occurs in the first act, but the hunt for the diamond doesn't end there. Through a series of comedic mishaps, the diamond keeps getting lost, and the gang has to cook up increasingly elaborate plans to get it back. Whether breaking into a prison, a police station, or a safe deposit box, there seems to be no way they can get their hands on the hot rock.

Through it all, Dortmunder is repeatedly thwarted and humiliated. He experiences indignities both big and small, from getting mugged while staking out a bank to getting peed on by his infant nephew. While most actors would play these scenes as slapstick, Redford mines more laughs by playing it straight. Dortmunder's quest for the diamond becomes less about collecting the money and more about proving his competency as a thief, and Redford conveys this goal with all the sincerity he brought to his more dramatic roles.

'The Hot Rock' Is One of Redford's Best Movies

Throughout his career both as an actor and as an Oscar-winning director, Redford used his movie star status to make interesting, challenging films, often with a strong political stance. Surprisingly, he only received one Oscar nomination for acting — Best Actor for The Sting — with acclaimed late career performances in All Is Lost and going unrecognized. Even with decades of good work under his belt (not to mention his creation of the Sundance Film Festival), it was still easy to take Redford for granted as just another Hollywood golden boy.

What The Hot Rock proves is that Redford was always interested in subverting his screen image, as he would do in films like The Candidate, All the President's Men, Jeremiah Johnson, and many others. In the hands of another actor, Dortmunder might have been played as either too comically clumsy or too cool for school. In Redford's, he becomes a man struggling to remain calm under pressure, even as the absurdities of his situation keep piling up around him. He's desperate to prove his professionalism, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. By the end, when the hot rock is finally in his possession, a triumphant smile flashes across Dortmunder's face, almost as if Redford the actor can't believe he's pulled off the delicate tonal balance his performance required.

The Hot Rock is available to buy on Amazon in the U.S.

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