A Disappointing Continuation

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

From his subsequent work, this film comes closest in spirit to the director's best-regarded effort, namely GEORGY GIRL (1966); incredibly enough for such a light-hearted farce, it officially competed at the Cannes Film Festival where it vainly faced such tremendous contenders as THE GO-BETWEEN, DEATH IN VENICE, JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN, TAKING OFF and WALKABOUT – albeit all being released in 1971! The film was also the second play (which, for the record, was staged locally not too long ago) by the controversial if short-lived Joe Orton to be turned into a movie after ENTERTAINING MR. SLOANE, released earlier that same year and which – like Stephen Frears' biopic of Orton, PRICK UP YOUR EARS (1987) with Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina – I also own but have yet to watch (the latter on the strength of LOOT itself!).Anyway, to get back to the film at hand, the central casting is certainly splendid: Richard Attenborough's character may be a caricature but he is undeniably funny (his Scotland Yard Inspector poses as an officer from the water board and whose professed integrity proves as much a sham as his act); Lee Remick is served with a sluttish role (as a go-getting and husband-killing nurse!) that actually takes the actress back to her debut in Elia Kazan's A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957): I do not know how she ended up in Britain just then (being reteamed with Attenborough soon afterwards for the Iris Murdoch adaptation A SEVERED HEAD {1970}), but it is safe to assume that she would never have been involved in anything this crude in Hollywood!; Hywel Bennett was fashionable for a brief period (this, in fact, came towards the end of his heyday) but he is terrific as the delusional – as much about romance as get-rich-quick schemes – morgue attendant who conducts his escapades inside a hearse!; Roy Holder's name was unknown to me but he is delightful as the effeminate half of the bungling criminal duo (calling his partner "baby" and who repeatedly gets them convicted because he has a compulsion for telling the truth!) – he also comes up with the film's funniest line, describing his 'close' relationship with his mother's corpse "a Freudian nightmare" (the couple stash the money from a bank robbery in her coffin, while the body is constantly turning up at the most inopportune moments!); Milo O'Shea, another familiar face from this era thanks to his lead role in the movie version of yet one more classic source i.e. James Joyce's ULYSSES (1967), is Holder's flustered father who also drools over Remick (she, in turn, has already eyed him for her next victim!).Perhaps the wildest idea here is having the criminals undertake the robbery in their birthday suits, so as not leave 'forensic' traces; the comic highlight, then, is a funeral procession that develops into a Keystone Kops-type chase(!), while its brightest touch is the adoption of a song score (not particularly outstanding but still quite nice and loud) to intermittently comment upon the silly-cum-tasteless (albeit rapid-fire) action! Interestingly, the busy finale is a combination of morality (characters owing up to a deed they are innocent of so as to make amends for past mistakes), cynicism (the fact that one cannot even trust authority figures anymore) and a curious 'honor-among-thieves' attitude (Bennett not only gets the girl after all but there is every reason to believe that, with Remick along for the ride, the gang's exploits can only get better and grander still!). By the way, I may be wrong but the film's manic style would seem to have anticipated some of the more stylized episodes in the long-running (and beloved) "Fantozzi" series from Italy!

Lunacy directed by Silvio Narizzano with so much going on it's almost impossible to take it all in. Hywel Bennett & Roy Holder rob a bank and hide the money in the casket that should contain Holder's dead mother. A lot of craziness follows. Sexy nurse Lee Remick makes a quick move on Holder's mourning father (Milo O'Shea) while wacky policeman Richard Attenborough tries to figure it all out. As O'Shea tells him, Attenborough's every move is a mystery. The film moves at break-neck speed and all of the performers are hilarious. Remick affects a perfect Irish accent and Attenborough seems to be channeling early Peter Sellers. O'Shea nearly steals the film as a ridiculously understanding dolt. From the Joe Orton play with some disposable music by Keith Mansfield.

"Loot" is a British comedy based on a Joe Orton play with a dark, funny premise. Young men manage to steal money from a bank vault, attempt to hide it in a coffin that already holds a body, remove the body, and then are stuck attempting to hide both.Hywel Bennett plays Dennis, one of the young robbers, who lays every woman in sight; Milo O'Shea plays his father; Richard Attenborough is the Inspector on the bank case; and Lee Remick plays a sexy nurse caring for Dennis' mother and looking for a rich man. I confess it took me a while to recognize her. She looks totally different here as a sexy, bombshell blonde, and speaks with an accent.This is a very '60s film, sort of Carry on Doctor Meets Caper Film, and some of it comes off as a little tired and frantic today. Still, the acting is good, and it is an amusing story. Made even a few years later, it might have been a darker and tighter film.

You can tell throughout "Loot" that it is trying real hard to be an edgy black comedy. However, it doesn't even compare to the much funnier "Weekend At Bernie's". Why do I compare the two? Because both involve a corpse that moves around a lot.A couple of young men easily steal a bunch of money from a bank vault. The bank is right next to a funeral parlor and they hide the money in a coffin. Not an empty coffin...one with a body in it. Well, they can't fit all the money into the coffin so they take the body out in order to make room for their stash of cash.Craziness ensues as the two men try to hide both the money and the corpse from relatives and the police. It seems to go on and on and on. To make things worse, most of the story takes place in a hotel. This probably would've made a more interesting play rather than a movie. 2/10