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Three sly-looking stars in sunglasses are aligned for this poster for Barry Levinson's Bandits |
A couple of jail break bank-robbers find themselves caught in a ménage-a-trois with a feisty hostage, who becomes their partner-in-crime.
Bandits is written by Harley Peyton (Heaven's Prisoners (1996)) and directed by great Marylander filmmaker Barry Levinson (Diner (1982)).
The shenanigans in this excellent crime caper comedy, which is a kind of post-modern genre hybrid of road movie, heist movie, romance, action and drama all in one, work surprisingly well. Bandits is an underrated and overlooked American gem.
The performances and over-the-top hilarious and wild script by Peyton make the ride incredibly entertaining and fun: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine (2013)) is the irresistible woman in the middle of the unlikely friendship between Bruce Willis (Die Hard (1988)) and Billy Bob Thornton's (Bad Santa 2 (2016)) characters, and she delivers a strong performance, - and looks super-sharp while giving it.
The music of Bandits is a rich assembly of great hits from artists like Bob Dylan, In Bloom, Bonnie Tyler, Bill Withers, U2 and many others.
The movie may seem a bit long, but then its surprising end makes up for it. The film is full of memorable, funny and exciting scenes, and is a joyous ride throughout, - not to miss.
Related posts:
Barry Levinson: 2001 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Bugsy (1991) - Levinson and Beatty serve a delicious gangster treat
Cost: 75 mil. $
Box office: 67.6 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Bandits was released 12 October (North America) and runs 123 minutes. Levinson was paid 10 mil. $ for his directing of the film. Shooting took place from October 2000 - February 2001 in Oregon and California. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Training Day, to a 13 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 41.5 mil. $ (61.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 3.8 mil. $ (5.6 %) and France with 2.8 mil. $ (4.1 %). The film was nominated for 2 Golden Globes and an AFI award and won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to 3 notches under this one. Levinson returned with A Uniform Used to Mean Something... (2004, short) and theatrically with Envy (2004). Willis returned in Hart's War (2002); Thornton in Monster's Ball (2001); and Blanchett in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Bandits is fresh at 64 % with a 6.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Bandits?
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