''$'', also known as ''Dollar$'', ''Dollars'' or ''$ (Dollars)'', and in the UK as ''The Heist'', is a 1971 American
comedy film starring
Warren Beatty and
Goldie Hawn, written and directed by
Richard Brooks and produced by
M.J. Frankovich. The supporting cast includes
Gert Fröbe
Karl Gerhart "Gert" Fröbe (; 25 February 1913 – 5 September 1988) was a German actor. He was best known in English-speaking countries for his work as Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film '' Goldfinger'', as Peachum in ''The Threepenny Oper ...
,
Robert Webber and
Scott Brady. The film is about a bank security consultant (Beatty) who develops a scheme with a prostitute, Dawn Divine (Hawn), to steal several criminals' money from a bank vault.
The film was partly shot in
Hamburg,
West Germany, which forms the primary location of the film and was supported by the
Hamburg Art Museum
The Hamburger Kunsthalle is the art museum of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany. It is one of the largest art museums in the country. The museum consists of three connected buildings, dating from 1869 (main building), 1921 (Kuppelsaa ...
and Bendestorf Studios. The film's music is composed and produced by
Quincy Jones, and the
soundtrack features performances by the
Don Elliott Voices,
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...
,
Roberta Flack and
Doug Kershaw
Douglas James Kershaw (born January 24, 1936) is an American fiddle player, singer and songwriter from Louisiana. Active since 1948, he began his career as part of the duo Rusty and Doug, along with his brother, Rusty Kershaw. He had an extens ...
. The film's title appears in the opening credits only in the form of a giant
character
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
, as would be used in a
sign
A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...
, being transported by a
crane. ''$'' was distributed by
Columbia Pictures.
Plot
Set in
Hamburg, West Germany, several criminals take advantage of the West German bank privacy laws to use
safe deposit boxes in a West German bank to store large amounts of illicit cash. These include a
Las Vegas mobster as well as a ruthless drug smuggler known as the Candy Man and a crooked overbearing U.S. Army sergeant and his meek-mannered partner the Major, who conspire on a big
heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
and
LSD smuggling score. Joe Collins (
Warren Beatty), an American bank security consultant, has been spying on them and makes mysterious and elaborate preparations to steal their money (totaling more than $1.5 million) with the help of Dawn Divine (
Goldie Hawn), a
hooker with a heart of gold.
Joe has Dawn phone in a bomb threat to the bank president, Mr. Kessel (
Gert Fröbe
Karl Gerhart "Gert" Fröbe (; 25 February 1913 – 5 September 1988) was a German actor. He was best known in English-speaking countries for his work as Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film '' Goldfinger'', as Peachum in ''The Threepenny Oper ...
), to create a diversion. Joe locks himself inside the bank vault with a gold bar normally displayed in the lobby to supposedly save it. The bank is closed and evacuated while Joe uses duplicate keys to empty the criminals' three safe deposit boxes into Dawn's large-size deposit box. (It is implied that Joe had obtained the necessary bank information and secretly copied the criminals' keys while they were engaged in sexual trysts with Dawn.) Despite the fact that Kessel insists on burning through the wall to rescue Joe instead of waiting for the time lock to open, Joe succeeds in the heist and is hailed as a hero for "preventing" the robbery of the gold bar.
The next day, the three criminals, one by one, discover that their boxes are empty, and thus they cannot complete their illegal schemes, nor do they dare to go to the police to report the thefts, since they would then risk revealing their own dishonest pasts. The Las Vegas mobster flees the country while the Sarge, his partner the Major, and the Candy Man search Dawn Divine's apartment, as she was their common link, and find clues that connect her to Joe. Sarge calls Kessel to get Joe's home address, but Joe is quickly tipped off by Kessel and he hurriedly sends Dawn to the train station with a suitcase packed with her take — $765,000 — promising to meet her later someplace out of the country.
A long climactic chase begins as Dawn gives the Major the slip at the train station while the Candy Man and the Sarge chase Joe across a rail yard and through the
Elbe Tunnel. Joe escapes on a car carrier truck, lugging his suitcase, but the Candy Man and the Sarge follow and catch up in the morning at a frozen lake in the countryside, where the Candy Man crashes his car through the ice and drowns.
Joe escapes again by hopping a train, but during the night the Sarge catches up to him, only to find that Joe's suitcase contains nothing but a bottle of champagne and wads of newspaper. They conclude that Dawn double-crossed Joe by repacking the suitcases (and thus taking all the money for herself) while he was getting the car, and the Sarge proposes a plan to Joe to go after Dawn together. However, upon swallowing a mouthful of the champagne, the Sarge instantly goes into violent convulsions and falls down dead. The bottle was one of two that the Candy Man had filled with a solution of concentrated LSD to sneak through
customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
earlier in the film. It's clear from Joe's reaction that he had no idea of the bottle's contents, and was just about to imbibe himself.
An
epilogue shows Dawn staying at the
Hotel del Coronado, joyfully driving a gleaming new yellow
Corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
, and cuddling in bed with an unseen someone. The other suitcase is sitting near the bed, and Joe's bomber jacket hangs on the coat rack. Dawn calmly explains to Joe that she was certain that the criminals wouldn't kill him and leave them with no way to get at the money; Dawn had planned all along to still share the money with Joe as they'd originally arranged, and so she had merely taken the money in order to keep it from anyone who'd pursued Joe. The poisoned champagne bottle she left for him is not discussed; she'd likely had no idea that its contents had been switched for LSD, either.
Cast
*
Warren Beatty as Joe Collins
*
Goldie Hawn as Dawn Divine
*
Gert Fröbe
Karl Gerhart "Gert" Fröbe (; 25 February 1913 – 5 September 1988) was a German actor. He was best known in English-speaking countries for his work as Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film '' Goldfinger'', as Peachum in ''The Threepenny Oper ...
as Mr. Kessel
*
Robert Webber as Attorney (referred to as Mr. North)
*
Scott Brady as Sarge
*
Arthur Brauss as Candy Man
* Robert Stiles as Major
*
Wolfgang Kieling as Granich
* Robert Herron as Bodyguard
*
Christiane Maybach
Christiane Maybach (1932–2006) was a German film and television actress. She became known as "Berlin's Marilyn Monroe" due to work in films from the 1950s to the 1970s. She continued to act in television roles until shortly before her death in 2 ...
as Helga
* Hans Hutter as Karl
* Monica Stender as Berta
* Horst Hesslein as Bruno
* Wolfgang Kuhlman as Furcoat
* Klaus Schichan as Knifeman
Production
Principal photography for ''$'' took place at Bendestorf Studio is
Hamburg,
West Germany from early January to early May 1971, and location shooting took place in that city as well.
The building depicted as the exterior of the bank was actually the ''
Kunsthalle
A kunsthalle is a facility that mounts temporary art exhibitions, similar to an art gallery. It is distinct from an art museum by not having a permanent collection.
In the German-speaking regions of Europe, ''Kunsthallen'' are often operated by ...
'',
Hamburg's principal museum of art. The route followed in the chase scenes realistically takes the viewer through many of the city's locales. Other locations in Hamburg include the
Reeperbahn — the city's red-light district — and the Salambo Cabaret nightclub.
Other filming locations included
Munich,
Norway, the
Pacific Coast Highway and the
Hotel Del Coronado in
San Diego, California.
Warren Beatty was injured while filming the train sequence, which caused him to miss at least two days of shooting.
Tribute
The scene where Joe tells Dawn there has never been such a robbery as what he is planning is a homage to the scene in ''
Double Indemnity
''Double Indemnity'' is a 1944 American crime film noir directed by Billy Wilder, co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. The screenplay was based on James M. Cain's 1943 novel of the same ...
'' when the insurance investigator played by
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson (born Emanuel Goldenberg; December 12, 1893January 26, 1973) was a Romanian-American actor of stage and screen, who was popular during the Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in 30 Broadway plays and more than 100 films duri ...
lectures his boss that there has never been an instance of someone committing suicide by jumping off the back of a slow-moving train.
Soundtrack
The
soundtrack to the film was composed and produced by
Quincy Jones, with performances by
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...
,
Roberta Flack and
Doug Kershaw
Douglas James Kershaw (born January 24, 1936) is an American fiddle player, singer and songwriter from Louisiana. Active since 1948, he began his career as part of the duo Rusty and Doug, along with his brother, Rusty Kershaw. He had an extens ...
, in addition to featuring the
Don Elliot Voices throughout the score. Among Jones' bouncy, funky instrumental songs, his track "Snow Creatures" has been heavily sampled by numerous hip hop artists, including
Gang Starr and
Common Sense.
Little Richard sings "Money Is" and "Do It to It", both with music and lyrics by Quincy Jones, while Roberta Flack sings "
When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles with You)", with music and lyrics by
Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin and
Larry Shay.
Release and reception
The premiere of the film took place in New York City on December 15, 1971, and it was released in theaters across the United States on December 17, 1971. The Los Angeles premiere was on December 22.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave the film three stars out of four and praised it as a "slick and breakneck caper movie that runs like a well-oiled thrill."
He praised the performance of Beatty, describing him as "the best con man in movies, certainly since
Clark Gable died. He is filled with deals, angles, things he has to pull you over in a corner to whisper. He can make you rich tomorrow, and himself, too, one of these days. And he has an unusual kind
narcissism — unusual for an actor. He isn't narcissistic about himself, but about his style; he's in love with conning people."
Roger Greenspun of ''
The New York Times'' wrote that the film boasts "an attractive cast, some clever dialogue (also by Brooks), and lots of suspense — at least, until the chase begins and never seems to end, and you wish that everyone would go home and get some rest ... '$' is actually a decent short film that has been made long by the most predictable and least ingenious of means." Arthur D. Murphy of ''
Variety'' found the film "
r too leisurely in plot and pacing," suggesting that "Brooks maybe is too serious a filmmaker for this sort of thing. He wants his characters to have depth and motivation, but the principle does not work well herein."
Charles Champlin of the ''
Los Angeles Times'' called it a "crackling good crime-chase-suspense story. Its considerable pleasure is that it sets us up solidly in a colorful, unfamiliar but unquestionably real place — Hamburg, Germany — and plays its ingenious charades absolutely as if they were part of the teeming life of that city."
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...
of the ''
Chicago Tribune'' gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote that it has a "clever premise" and that Beatty and Hawn were "pleasant performers," but "Brooks' script continually interrupts its mood of a slick caper film with slapstick humor. '$' tries to be both a comedy and a caper, and manages to be neither."
A
Channel 4 review of the film in the UK gave it a 4 out of 5 rating, and, like Ebert, noted the pace of the directing and script by Brooks, describing it as "cutting more rapidly than usual, he kept the action moving fairly entertainingly for most of the movie, with includes a long and spectacular car chase". However, unlike Ebert, critic
Christopher Null believed the following of the film tired after the first hour, remarking that, "Beatty and Hawn carry this fun little heist/comedy picture for the first hour, but then the whole affair gets a little tiring". He did, however, rate the film 3.5 out of 5.
Home video
The film was released on DVD in 2008, concurrently with the CD re-release of the film's soundtrack, which had previously been released on CD in 2001 by Warner Bros. Records, Inc.
[ ''Dollar$'' Soundtrack release history www.allmusic.com.]
See also
*
List of American films of 1971
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dollar sign (film)
1971 films
1970s crime comedy films
1970s heist films
American crime comedy films
American heist films
Columbia Pictures films
1970s English-language films
Films scored by Quincy Jones
Films about bank robbery
Films directed by Richard Brooks
Films set in Hamburg
Films set in West Germany
Films shot in Germany
1971 comedy films
1970s American films