CRACKERS

US, 1984, 92 minutes, Colour.
Donald Sutherland, Jack Warden, Sean Penn, Wallace Shawn.
Directed by Louis Malle.

Crackers is an American adaptation of the Italian comedy classic of the '50s, I Soliti Ignoti, Big Deal on Madonna Street. The original film had an odd collection of people all involved in trying to do a robbery - with varying results of incompetence.

The plot is transferred to San Francisco of the '80s. Again there is a motley collection of characters led by Donald Sutherland for the old brigade (and his perpetually-eating friend, played by Wallace Shawn). The younger generation is represented by Sean Penn. The object of their planning is the shop owned by Jack Warden. The film is amiable, ambles about San Francisco, shows people out of work getting more and more exasperated, shows the racial mix in the American city. The group bands together to rob the safe - again with varying degrees of incompetence.

On the whole, the comedy is slight and mild. This is surprising when it is the work of the director Louis Malle, so adept at a wide range of films in his native France in the '60s and '70s (Zazie in the Metro, The Lovers, Murmur of the Heart) as well as such other striking films in France and the United States as Lacombe Lucien, Atlantic City, My Dinner with Andre, Au Revoir, Les Enfants.

1.Entertaining caper - gone wrong? A pleasant slice of San Francisco street life?

2.The streets of San Francisco, the shops, the people out of work, the racial mix, the prostitutes and pimps? Unemployment?

3.The title and its symbolism? The film based on the Italian classic - adapted to the United States and to San Francisco?

4.The opening with the establishment of the characters, their being out of work, their hopes and frustrations? The pawnshop and Garvey's meanness? Dillard and Ramon, wandering around, racial issues with Hispanics? Ramon's sister? Weslake and Turtle? Turtle continually eating? The black population of the district? The prostitutes, the pimp - and the little baby? The interactions and the setting for the comedy and the caper?

5.Weslake, his leadership, his lost job? The friendship with Maxine, the sexual encounters with her? Turtle and his perpetually eating, noticing only details connected with food? His tagging along with Weslake? Their friendship with Garvey, thinking him stingy? Observing Dillard and Ramon? The blacks? The exasperation in not being able to get a job - and Weslake finding his boss wanting to pawn the adding machines?

6.Dillard, wandering around town, youth and inexperience, brash? Ramon - and his robbing cars with Dillard? Pawning the radios? Dillard wanting to buy back his musical instrument - and Garvey's meanness? Their plan to put in the alarm, its going off, the police arriving?

7.The black pimp, his relationship with the prostitute - their baby? Her being on the beat, leaving and abandoning the baby with him? His friendship with Weslake, overhearing Dillard and Ramon, giving the information?

8.Maxine, the meter maid, sexy - and her well-organised relationships throughout the week? The fantasies with Weslake? Irritated at his change of plan, her arrival with the artist during the caper?

9.Garvey, his shop, watching the prices? His thinking the group were his friends? His talking to his 90-year-old mother? Not willing to sell the instrument back to Dillard? His going to his mother's? The group casing his place? The irony of his returning during the robbery, his mother's death, his realisation what happened, his needing their support and their friendship? Not putting them in to the police? Telling them about the empty and unlocked safe - and their reassuring him that they would rebuild things?

10.Weslake and the plan, gathering the group together, explaining things to them? Rendezvous, the sightings, casing the places? Weslake and the key, the alarm with Dillard? The black man going to the house, meeting the maid, helping her with the interior decoration, her looking after the baby - finding out that she was only a maid? A future with her? Turtle and his continued eating?

11.The execution of the caper - the things that went wrong, down the coalhole, on the roof, the lights going on and Maxine with the young man? Falls, breaking windows? The damage done? Ramon coming in the front door? The old lady on the phone about the cat? Their landing in the room, the testing out of the glycerine and their using it - and the explosion calling the police? Garvey's arrival home, their talking with him and supporting him? His supporting them?

12.A mild comedy? Gallery of eccentric characters? Social situations and unemployment? The caper - and its going wrong?