WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.700 You know, when a movie opens, there's usually 00:00:01.700 --> 00:00:05.240 this subtle establishment of theme. Right, like 00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:08.359 a slow pan across a desolate landscape or maybe 00:00:08.359 --> 00:00:10.919 a quiet whisper of dialogue. Yeah, exactly. Or 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:13.740 like a moody silhouette in a doorway. But imagine 00:00:13.740 --> 00:00:15.560 this. You sit down in the theater, the screen 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:18.079 lights up, and the very first thing you see is 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:21.660 just a giant neon -lit dollar sign. Oh, wow. 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:25.500 Yeah, just this massive physical symbol of wealth 00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:28.519 swinging wildly through the air, suspended from 00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:31.579 a heavy construction crane. I mean, it is loud, 00:00:31.820 --> 00:00:33.960 it's unapologetic, and it tells you everything 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:35.600 you need to know about the director's intentions 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:37.840 before a single actor even opens their mouth. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.619 It really does. It completely strips away any 00:00:40.619 --> 00:00:42.759 pretense of high art right immediately. Like, 00:00:42.780 --> 00:00:45.240 the film is aggressively dangling its core motivation 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:47.259 right in front of your face. Well, welcome to 00:00:47.259 --> 00:00:50.340 the deep dive. Today we are looking at a 1971 00:00:50.340 --> 00:00:53.259 film that opens with that exact image. The movie 00:00:53.259 --> 00:00:56.719 is called Dollars. Or sometimes it's stylized 00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:58.859 on posters with just that big dollar symbol, 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:02.460 right? Yes, exactly. Or if you're in the UK, 00:01:02.619 --> 00:01:05.099 you might know it as The Heist. But as we dug 00:01:05.099 --> 00:01:08.180 into the stack of sources on this one, we realize 00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:11.319 this is far from your standard breezy comedy 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:14.019 caper. Oh, totally. I mean, we've got contemporary 00:01:14.019 --> 00:01:16.659 reviews by major film critics, production notes 00:01:16.659 --> 00:01:20.159 from the actual set, and the surprisingly deep 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:22.340 musical archives surrounding its soundtrack. 00:01:22.459 --> 00:01:24.319 Right, because we are looking at this incredibly 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:28.359 intricate mechanical puzzle of a plot and a directorial 00:01:28.359 --> 00:01:31.140 approach that, well, deeply frustrated the critics 00:01:31.140 --> 00:01:33.900 of the era. Not to mention a soundtrack that... 00:01:33.739 --> 00:01:36.780 against all odds, ended up permanently altering 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:39.840 the landscape of 1990s hip hop. Okay, let's unpack 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:42.819 this because to understand why this movie works 00:01:42.819 --> 00:01:45.280 and why it's so tightly wound, you first have 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:47.019 to understand the targets of the robbery. Yeah, 00:01:47.140 --> 00:01:49.239 the marks. Right, because in a standard heist 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:51.420 film, you know, you have a bank and you have 00:01:51.420 --> 00:01:53.700 innocent victims whose money is insured. But 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:55.799 the marks in dollars are what make this entire 00:01:55.799 --> 00:01:58.329 premise so compelling. To set the stage for why 00:01:58.329 --> 00:02:01.269 this specific heist is even mathematically possible, 00:02:01.329 --> 00:02:03.049 we have to look at the location. So we're in 00:02:03.049 --> 00:02:07.109 Hamburg, West Germany, in the early 1970s. And 00:02:07.109 --> 00:02:09.310 we really have to consider the banking environment 00:02:09.310 --> 00:02:12.669 of that specific era, because West German bank 00:02:12.669 --> 00:02:16.009 privacy laws were just famously impenetrable. 00:02:16.430 --> 00:02:19.229 So like Swiss bank accounts, basically. Very 00:02:19.229 --> 00:02:21.879 similar, yeah. This wasn't just a place to park 00:02:21.879 --> 00:02:24.460 a normal pension fund. Because of the strict 00:02:24.460 --> 00:02:27.080 legal firewall between bank records and government 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:30.180 oversight, it was the absolute perfect environment 00:02:30.180 --> 00:02:33.419 for hiding untraceable cash. Which is, naturally, 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:36.659 a magnet for criminals. Exactly. And that is 00:02:36.659 --> 00:02:39.620 exactly what a very specific, very dangerous 00:02:39.620 --> 00:02:42.419 group of people is doing. They are using safe 00:02:42.419 --> 00:02:45.719 deposit boxes in this highly secure Hamburg bank 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:48.360 to stash over one and a half million dollars 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:50.780 in dirty money. And what a group of targets it 00:02:50.780 --> 00:02:52.580 is. I mean, we aren't talking about white -collar 00:02:52.580 --> 00:02:54.599 executives dodging taxes here. No, definitely 00:02:54.599 --> 00:02:57.099 not. First you have Mr. North, who is this slick, 00:02:57.400 --> 00:02:59.460 connected mobster, an attorney out of Las Vegas. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:01.780 Then you have a character known simply as the 00:03:01.780 --> 00:03:04.159 Candy Man. Such a great name for a villain. It 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:06.620 is. And he's an incredibly ruthless international 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:08.680 drug smuggler. And rounding out the trio, you 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:11.159 have the Sarge and the Major. Right, the military 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:14.439 guys. Yeah, a pair of crooked... overbearing 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:17.560 U .S. Army officers who are conspiring on this 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:21.199 massive heroin and LSD smuggling operation. It 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:23.560 really is a true rogues gallery. I mean, they 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:25.259 are well -funded, they're violent, and they're 00:03:25.259 --> 00:03:27.439 entirely confident that their money is completely 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:32.060 safe behind inches of steel and those impenetrable 00:03:32.060 --> 00:03:35.199 German privacy laws. Which brings us to our protagonists. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:38.379 Enter Joe Collins, played by Warren Beatty, and 00:03:38.379 --> 00:03:41.250 Don Devine, played by Goldie Hawn. An iconic 00:03:41.250 --> 00:03:44.289 duo. Truly. So Dawn is a hooker with a heart 00:03:44.289 --> 00:03:47.310 of gold. And crucially, Mr. North and the Sarge 00:03:47.310 --> 00:03:50.250 are among her regular clients. But Joe is the 00:03:50.250 --> 00:03:52.349 real wild card here. Yeah, because he isn't your 00:03:52.349 --> 00:03:54.830 typical cat burglar. Right. He isn't like drilling 00:03:54.830 --> 00:03:57.050 through the roof or repelling down an elevator 00:03:57.050 --> 00:04:00.250 shaft. He is literally an American bank security 00:04:00.250 --> 00:04:02.520 consultant. which completely flips the dynamic 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:04.680 of the heist genre on its head. I kept thinking 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:06.360 about this while reading the plot breakdown. 00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:09.460 He is basically like an IT guy who gets hired 00:04:09.460 --> 00:04:12.080 to install a company's cutting edge cybersecurity 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:14.280 firewall. Oh, that's a great way to look at it. 00:04:14.340 --> 00:04:17.980 Right. But then he uses his top level admin privileges 00:04:17.980 --> 00:04:22.160 to quietly locate and drain the CEO's secret 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:25.699 offshore crypto wallets. Joe is the ultimate 00:04:25.699 --> 00:04:28.480 fox in the henhouse. He really is the ultimate 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:31.040 insider threat. Yeah, he's been quietly spying 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:33.439 on these criminals. And while they're occupied, 00:04:33.660 --> 00:04:36.560 you know, often visiting Dawn, Joe is secretly 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:39.000 acquiring their bank information and copying 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:41.660 the keys to their safe deposit boxes. What's 00:04:41.660 --> 00:04:43.980 fascinating here is the underlying game theory 00:04:43.980 --> 00:04:46.240 of Joe's strategy. That's what really elevates 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:48.779 the script. How so? Well, it is not just a matter 00:04:48.779 --> 00:04:50.839 of acquiring the money. It's about engineering 00:04:50.839 --> 00:04:53.740 a scenario where you can walk away without triggering 00:04:53.740 --> 00:04:57.300 a global policeman hunt. By specifically targeting 00:04:57.300 --> 00:05:00.259 the hidden assets of a va - mobster, a cartel 00:05:00.259 --> 00:05:03.019 drug runner, and corrupt military officers, Joe 00:05:03.019 --> 00:05:05.560 and Don are exploiting this massive psychological 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:07.439 loophole. Oh, it's mutually assured destruction. 00:05:07.740 --> 00:05:10.060 Exactly. When you steal from heavily armed criminals 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:12.120 who they call, they can never go to the local 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:14.939 authorities. Because doing so requires them to 00:05:14.939 --> 00:05:17.699 explain to the West German police exactly where 00:05:17.699 --> 00:05:19.759 a million and a half dollars in cash came from. 00:05:19.949 --> 00:05:23.110 Right. It would instantly expose their own illicit 00:05:23.110 --> 00:05:26.250 pasts and dismantle their current smuggling operations. 00:05:27.230 --> 00:05:29.910 So Joe relies on their mandated silence as his 00:05:29.910 --> 00:05:32.610 ultimate insurance policy. It is just a brilliant 00:05:32.610 --> 00:05:35.629 theoretical setup. But as we know, theory is 00:05:35.629 --> 00:05:38.329 one thing. Physically moving that much paper 00:05:38.329 --> 00:05:41.360 currency out of a high security vault. requires 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:44.439 a sequence of events so percents, it kind of 00:05:44.439 --> 00:05:46.920 makes your head spin. It really does. So let's 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:49.259 get into the execution. How do you rob a bank 00:05:49.259 --> 00:05:51.620 from the inside when you're the actual guy who 00:05:51.620 --> 00:05:53.740 designed the security? Well, you have to manufacture 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:56.420 an external crisis to create internal opportunity. 00:05:56.740 --> 00:06:00.300 Right. So Joe has Don call in a fake bomb threat 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:02.800 to the bank president. This is a man named Mr. 00:06:02.980 --> 00:06:05.370 Kethel. played wonderfully by Gert Frobe. Oh, 00:06:05.490 --> 00:06:07.269 a lot of people know him as the villain from 00:06:07.269 --> 00:06:10.050 Goldfinger. Yes. So this bomb threat triggers 00:06:10.050 --> 00:06:13.029 a frantic building wide evacuation. Everyone 00:06:13.029 --> 00:06:15.610 is panicking. But Joe doesn't evacuate. No, he 00:06:15.610 --> 00:06:17.709 goes the opposite direction. Yeah, he intentionally 00:06:17.709 --> 00:06:19.990 locks himself inside the highly secure vault, 00:06:20.410 --> 00:06:22.750 claiming he needs to bravely stay behind to secure 00:06:22.750 --> 00:06:24.949 a priceless display gold bar from the lobby. 00:06:25.230 --> 00:06:27.870 Which provides the perfect cover story. I mean, 00:06:28.009 --> 00:06:30.899 he is in the vault. alone, with the thick steel 00:06:30.899 --> 00:06:33.980 doors sealed tight. But here is where the technological 00:06:33.980 --> 00:06:36.680 reality of the 1970s comes into play. Right, 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:39.480 because he's not totally unseen. Exactly. The 00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:42.620 vault is still heavily monitored by closed circuit 00:06:42.620 --> 00:06:44.980 television cameras, and there are absolutely 00:06:44.980 --> 00:06:47.699 no blind spots built into the architecture of 00:06:47.699 --> 00:06:50.480 the room. Wait, if there are no blind spots, 00:06:50.519 --> 00:06:52.519 and he is locked in a room covered in cameras, 00:06:52.819 --> 00:06:54.980 how does he actually move the money without getting 00:06:54.980 --> 00:06:57.709 caught on tape? It all comes down to the limitations 00:06:57.709 --> 00:07:00.629 of analog technology. Today we have digital wide 00:07:00.629 --> 00:07:02.790 -angle lenses that just capture a whole room 00:07:02.790 --> 00:07:05.350 at once. Right. You can't hide from modern cameras. 00:07:05.550 --> 00:07:09.370 But in 1971, CCTV cameras relied on motorized 00:07:09.370 --> 00:07:12.350 pan and tilt heads. They physically swept back 00:07:12.350 --> 00:07:14.930 and forth across the room using fixed mechanical 00:07:14.930 --> 00:07:17.269 gear ratios. Oh, so they moved back and forth 00:07:17.269 --> 00:07:20.069 on a set timer. Yes. The sweep was constant, 00:07:20.410 --> 00:07:23.470 unalterable, and highly predictable. And because 00:07:23.470 --> 00:07:26.189 Joe supervised their installation, he knows the 00:07:26.189 --> 00:07:28.410 precise mathematical pattern of the sweep. Oh, 00:07:28.410 --> 00:07:31.009 that is so clever. He uses the rigid nature of 00:07:31.009 --> 00:07:33.730 the machine against itself. He literally uses 00:07:33.730 --> 00:07:36.589 a specially ordered custom stopwatch. He clicks 00:07:36.589 --> 00:07:38.709 the watch, waits for the mechanical camera head 00:07:38.709 --> 00:07:41.529 to pan away, steps into the aisle, unlocks a 00:07:41.529 --> 00:07:44.610 criminal's box, grabs the cash, and ducks back 00:07:44.610 --> 00:07:46.449 out of frame just a fraction of a second before 00:07:46.449 --> 00:07:49.050 the lens sweeps back. That is so stressful to 00:07:49.050 --> 00:07:51.829 even think about. I know, right? He does this 00:07:51.829 --> 00:07:54.370 over and over, meticulously timing his movements 00:07:54.370 --> 00:07:57.149 down. to the millisecond. And he's transferring 00:07:57.149 --> 00:07:59.569 the contents of the three criminals boxes into 00:07:59.569 --> 00:08:02.990 Don's single large -size deposit box. The tension 00:08:02.990 --> 00:08:05.629 in how this is described in the sources is wild. 00:08:06.490 --> 00:08:09.329 It is just an exercise in pure mechanical precision. 00:08:09.949 --> 00:08:12.970 But the outside world isn't static. No, it definitely 00:08:12.970 --> 00:08:15.290 isn't. Because while Joe is elegantly dancing 00:08:15.290 --> 00:08:18.470 between camera pans inside, Kessel, the bank 00:08:18.470 --> 00:08:21.250 president, is outside the vault having an absolute 00:08:21.250 --> 00:08:23.649 meltdown. Yeah, Kessel is terrified for Joe. 00:08:23.889 --> 00:08:26.470 He views this American consultant as a hero who 00:08:26.470 --> 00:08:29.009 was locked in with a potential bomb. Right. So 00:08:29.009 --> 00:08:30.610 instead of waiting for the time lock to open 00:08:30.610 --> 00:08:33.049 normally the next morning, Kessel hires a crew 00:08:33.049 --> 00:08:35.210 to furiously burn through the vault wall with 00:08:35.210 --> 00:08:38.509 a blowtorch to rescue him. Which forces Joe to 00:08:38.509 --> 00:08:41.950 accelerate this delicate timed ballet. Exactly. 00:08:42.289 --> 00:08:44.529 He is not just racing the sweeping cameras anymore. 00:08:44.950 --> 00:08:48.029 He is racing a rescue team that he actively does 00:08:48.029 --> 00:08:50.629 not want. But he pulls it off. Here's where it 00:08:50.629 --> 00:08:52.929 gets really interesting. He gets the money moved. 00:08:53.470 --> 00:08:56.850 The vault is breached and Joe emerges coughing 00:08:56.850 --> 00:08:59.649 through the smoke, completely unscathed. And 00:08:59.649 --> 00:09:02.129 the bank president practically pins a metal on 00:09:02.129 --> 00:09:05.029 him for quote unquote preventing the theft of 00:09:05.029 --> 00:09:08.429 the gold bar. So the inside job works flawlessly. 00:09:09.350 --> 00:09:11.429 The money has been repositioned into Dawn's account. 00:09:11.509 --> 00:09:14.669 Yep. Safe and sound. But as with any great caper. 00:09:14.750 --> 00:09:17.070 The sterile, controlled environment of the bank 00:09:17.070 --> 00:09:19.370 vault is really just the first act. The outside 00:09:19.370 --> 00:09:21.850 world is messy. Exactly. The outside world is 00:09:21.850 --> 00:09:24.190 where the variables live, and that is where this 00:09:24.190 --> 00:09:26.769 pristine plan starts to violently unravel. Because 00:09:26.769 --> 00:09:28.789 the next day, the criminals go to check their 00:09:28.789 --> 00:09:31.690 boxes. Mr. North, the mobster, finds his empty. 00:09:32.009 --> 00:09:34.470 And being a pretty pragmatic guy, he just immediately 00:09:34.470 --> 00:09:36.669 flees the country. He knows when he's beat. Right, 00:09:36.669 --> 00:09:39.070 he cuts his losses. But the others, they are 00:09:39.070 --> 00:09:41.309 not letting it go. And this is where the tone 00:09:41.309 --> 00:09:43.490 of the film takes a dramatic, almost jarring 00:09:43.490 --> 00:09:47.200 shift. The Candyman, our international drug smuggler, 00:09:47.720 --> 00:09:52.980 realizes his $140 ,000 is gone. And that wasn't 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:55.779 just pocket change. No. That money was earmarked 00:09:55.779 --> 00:09:59.419 for a massive LSD shipment. And his mob superiors, 00:09:59.460 --> 00:10:02.559 well, they don't believe his wild story about 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:06.000 a magical, impossible bank vault robbery. I mean, 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:09.500 would you? Fair point. They assume he stole it, 00:10:09.500 --> 00:10:12.080 so they brutally torture him. But he barely manages 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:13.940 to escape a burning building and goes hunting 00:10:13.940 --> 00:10:16.120 for the Sarge, assuming the corrupt military 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:18.320 officer double -crossed him. So they end up in 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:20.419 this huge brawl, but eventually put the pieces 00:10:20.419 --> 00:10:23.139 together. The Candyman spots a photo of Don with 00:10:23.139 --> 00:10:25.139 the Sarge, and the light bulb just goes off. 00:10:25.419 --> 00:10:27.700 Yep. Don is the common denominator between all 00:10:27.700 --> 00:10:30.139 the victims. Exactly. So the criminals team up, 00:10:30.460 --> 00:10:32.779 they search Don's apartment, they confirm the 00:10:32.779 --> 00:10:35.690 link to Joe, and the hunt is officially on. which 00:10:35.690 --> 00:10:38.269 obviously forces Joe and Dawn into a total panic. 00:10:38.889 --> 00:10:41.370 They divide the money into two suitcases. Dawn 00:10:41.370 --> 00:10:45.269 takes her cut, which is $765 ,000, and heads 00:10:45.269 --> 00:10:47.470 to the train station to disappear. While Joe 00:10:47.470 --> 00:10:50.070 is left to deal with the pursuit. Yeah, and I 00:10:50.070 --> 00:10:52.990 really want to emphasize this. Based on the production 00:10:52.990 --> 00:10:57.370 notes, this pursuit is not your standard lighthearted 00:10:57.370 --> 00:11:00.070 comedy romp. I was reading about this. The Candyman 00:11:00.070 --> 00:11:04.450 and the Sarge chase Joe. relentlessly. It is 00:11:04.450 --> 00:11:07.610 an epic grueling pursuit across a gritty rail 00:11:07.610 --> 00:11:10.169 yard and they're running through the actual Elba 00:11:10.169 --> 00:11:12.429 Tunnel in Hamburg. They're even hopping onto 00:11:12.429 --> 00:11:15.409 a moving car carrier truck. Right and it drags 00:11:15.409 --> 00:11:17.289 on through the night until they end up out in 00:11:17.289 --> 00:11:19.870 the freezing countryside on a frozen lake at 00:11:19.870 --> 00:11:22.629 dawn. It culminates in this incredibly bleak 00:11:22.629 --> 00:11:25.980 moment where the Candyman crashes his car straight 00:11:25.980 --> 00:11:28.659 through the ice and drowns. It just sounds exhausting. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:31.039 It was exhausting to film, too. If we connect 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:33.059 this to the bigger picture and look at the stylistic 00:11:33.059 --> 00:11:35.000 choices of the director, Richard Brooks. Yeah, 00:11:35.019 --> 00:11:37.759 what was his approach? Well, he completely rejected 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:40.120 the idea of shooting on a shiny Hollywood back 00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:43.320 lot. He demanded real locations in Hamburg. They 00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:46.000 used the real Ripperbahn, which is the city's 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:48.779 infamous red light district. Oh, wow. And the 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:51.159 exterior of the bank was actually the Kunstall, 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:53.720 which is Hamburg's principal art museum. So they 00:11:53.720 --> 00:11:55.580 were out there in the actual freezing German 00:11:55.580 --> 00:11:58.440 elements. Yes. The physical toll on the actors 00:11:58.440 --> 00:12:01.679 was not faked at all. During the train sequence, 00:12:02.019 --> 00:12:04.320 Warren Beatty was injured so severely that he 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:06.980 missed several days of filming. That is intense. 00:12:07.220 --> 00:12:10.080 It really was. The grit of those German locations 00:12:09.899 --> 00:12:13.179 and the sheer authentic exhaustion of the actors 00:12:13.179 --> 00:12:16.799 gave this absurd, breezy heist premise a suddenly 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:20.059 very dark, heavy reality. Which makes the musical 00:12:20.059 --> 00:12:23.379 choices during these scenes so fascinating. The 00:12:23.379 --> 00:12:25.399 sources mention that a globetrotting movie with 00:12:25.399 --> 00:12:28.779 this much style and chaos requires a very specific 00:12:28.779 --> 00:12:31.980 atmosphere. Oh, the music is incredible. Yeah, 00:12:31.980 --> 00:12:34.159 and the music for Dollars ended up having a legacy 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:37.279 that completely eclipsed the film itself. The 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:39.159 soundtrack was composed by the maestro, Quincy 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:41.610 Jones. And Jones brought in heavy hitters for 00:12:41.610 --> 00:12:43.970 this. Little Richard singing Money Is, Roberta 00:12:43.970 --> 00:12:46.190 Flack doing an incredible version of When You're 00:12:46.190 --> 00:12:48.850 Smiling. Yeah, but for the score itself, Quincy 00:12:48.850 --> 00:12:51.029 Jones composed these incredibly bouncy, funky, 00:12:51.210 --> 00:12:53.990 upbeat instrumental tracks to score Joe's intricate 00:12:53.990 --> 00:12:57.899 heist and these tense, grueling chases. It creates 00:12:57.899 --> 00:13:01.740 this wild stylistic dissonance. You have Warren 00:13:01.740 --> 00:13:04.720 Beatty freezing and bleeding in a German railyard, 00:13:05.019 --> 00:13:08.379 but it's set to the smoothest, funkiest bass 00:13:08.379 --> 00:13:10.960 lines imaginable. It's such a weird mix. Yeah. 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:13.360 And that realism crashes right back into the 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:15.940 intricate plotting when the chase finally forces 00:13:15.940 --> 00:13:18.539 a showdown on a moving train. Which brings us 00:13:18.539 --> 00:13:21.039 to a subplot established much earlier in the 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:23.559 film. Yes. Okay, let me set this up because I 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:25.600 was reading the plot summary and at first I was 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:27.659 completely confused. It is a bit of a tangled 00:13:27.659 --> 00:13:30.600 web. It really is. So Joe is on the train, totally 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:33.379 exhausted. The Sarge finally corners him. The 00:13:33.379 --> 00:13:36.100 Sarge violently rips open Joe's suitcase expecting 00:13:36.100 --> 00:13:38.860 to find a million dollars and instead he finds 00:13:39.450 --> 00:13:42.149 a bunch of rolled -up newspaper, and a single 00:13:42.149 --> 00:13:44.629 fancy bottle of champagne. Right. What is going 00:13:44.629 --> 00:13:46.690 on with this champagne? We have to trace that 00:13:46.690 --> 00:13:48.889 bottle back to the Candyman. Earlier in the film, 00:13:49.009 --> 00:13:51.529 the Candyman is executing a smuggling run. He 00:13:51.529 --> 00:13:53.690 is delivering a highly concentrated solution 00:13:53.690 --> 00:13:57.169 of liquid LSD to Copenhagen. OK. And to get it 00:13:57.169 --> 00:13:59.970 past customs, he pours the liquid LSD into real 00:13:59.970 --> 00:14:02.309 champagne bottles. A trip, by the way, that Joe 00:14:02.309 --> 00:14:04.549 actually tipped the customs agents off about, 00:14:04.830 --> 00:14:07.289 trying to protect Don and get the Candyman arrested. 00:14:07.649 --> 00:14:10.649 Precisely. But the crucial detail is that the 00:14:10.649 --> 00:14:13.970 candyman kept a third bottle of this concentrated 00:14:13.970 --> 00:14:17.870 LSD as his personal payment. And he left that 00:14:17.870 --> 00:14:21.070 disguised bottle inside his safe deposit box. 00:14:21.250 --> 00:14:23.830 Wait, the very same safe deposit box that Joe 00:14:23.830 --> 00:14:25.590 and Dawn emptied out during the vault heist? 00:14:25.690 --> 00:14:28.669 The exact same one. Oh, wow. So when Joe and 00:14:28.669 --> 00:14:30.850 Dawn are splitting up the loot in Dawn's apartment, 00:14:31.429 --> 00:14:33.690 Dawn sees this fancy bottle among the stolen 00:14:33.690 --> 00:14:36.129 cash. Right. She thinks it's just regular champagne. 00:14:36.269 --> 00:14:39.409 Yeah. Wanting to celebrate later, she innocently 00:14:39.409 --> 00:14:42.090 packs it into Joe's suitcase, stuffing the rest 00:14:42.090 --> 00:14:44.230 of his bag with newspaper to make it look full 00:14:44.230 --> 00:14:46.529 so the criminals follow him instead of her. She 00:14:46.529 --> 00:14:48.590 has absolutely no idea. She has just handed Joe 00:14:48.590 --> 00:14:51.149 a weapon of mass hallucination. It is a brilliant 00:14:51.149 --> 00:14:53.750 setup. It's like Chekhov's gun, but loaded with 00:14:53.750 --> 00:14:57.159 hallucinogens. So back on the train. The Sarge 00:14:57.159 --> 00:15:00.100 sees the newspaper and the champagne. He immediately 00:15:00.100 --> 00:15:02.019 assumes Dawn double -crossed Jo and kept all 00:15:02.019 --> 00:15:04.519 the money for herself. So the Sarge pivots. He 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:07.840 proposes a deal to Jo. He says, let's team up, 00:15:07.980 --> 00:15:10.279 hunt Dawn down, and split the cash. Makes sense 00:15:10.279 --> 00:15:13.500 from his perspective. Exactly. And feeling triumphant, 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:16.940 he pops the cork on the champagne, takes a massive 00:15:16.940 --> 00:15:19.919 celebratory swig straight from the bottle, and 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:22.440 instantly goes into violent convulsions and drops 00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:25.279 dead on the floor of the train. Oh my god. Yeah. 00:15:25.580 --> 00:15:28.559 The sheer concentration of the LSD was lethal. 00:15:29.139 --> 00:15:32.759 And Joe's reaction is just incredibly dark comedy. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:36.460 He is staring at the body completely clueless 00:15:36.460 --> 00:15:38.179 about what just happened. I mean, he had his 00:15:38.179 --> 00:15:40.440 own glass poured. He was a second away from drinking 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:42.519 it himself. He really was. He just quietly puts 00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:44.820 his glass down, grabs his newspaper -filled bag, 00:15:45.220 --> 00:15:47.659 and gets off the train. Which leads to the final, 00:15:48.019 --> 00:15:51.049 incredibly satisfying reveal. Joe travels back 00:15:51.049 --> 00:15:53.649 to the United States to the Hotel Del Coronado 00:15:53.649 --> 00:15:55.649 in California. He's still thinking Don betrayed 00:15:55.649 --> 00:15:58.009 him, right? Yes. He is convinced Don has actually 00:15:58.009 --> 00:16:00.549 stolen his cut. He walks into a hotel suite and 00:16:00.549 --> 00:16:03.149 there she is. She's got a gleaming new yellow 00:16:03.149 --> 00:16:05.370 corvette, she's relaxing, and right there on 00:16:05.370 --> 00:16:07.970 the bed is the second suitcase full of his half 00:16:07.970 --> 00:16:10.029 of the money. She never betrayed him? Not for 00:16:10.029 --> 00:16:14.090 a second. She calmly explains her strategy. She 00:16:14.090 --> 00:16:16.570 took all the money in her suitcase specifically 00:16:16.570 --> 00:16:20.090 to redirect the violent assassins away from Joe. 00:16:20.309 --> 00:16:22.590 Wait, how does taking the money help him? Well, 00:16:22.690 --> 00:16:24.889 she calculated that if the criminals caught him 00:16:24.889 --> 00:16:26.850 with the money, they would kill him instantly. 00:16:27.049 --> 00:16:29.269 Oh. But if they caught him with a bag full of 00:16:29.269 --> 00:16:31.129 newspaper, they'd keep him alive to help them 00:16:31.129 --> 00:16:34.009 find her. It was a brilliant diversionary tactic 00:16:34.009 --> 00:16:36.549 to keep them both breathing. It ties up all those 00:16:36.549 --> 00:16:39.169 loose, chaotic threads so perfectly. She was 00:16:39.169 --> 00:16:41.590 playing 4D chess the whole time. Exactly. But 00:16:41.590 --> 00:16:43.029 I want to circle back to something you mentioned 00:16:43.029 --> 00:16:45.230 earlier. We talked about Quincy Jones and that 00:16:45.230 --> 00:16:48.350 funky upbeat score. The production notes highlight. 00:16:48.570 --> 00:16:51.129 that the afterlife of this music took a wildly 00:16:51.129 --> 00:16:53.769 unexpected turn decades later. Oh, it is one 00:16:53.769 --> 00:16:56.049 of the most fascinating cultural crossovers in 00:16:56.049 --> 00:17:00.110 film history. Really? Yeah. Those funky 1971 00:17:00.110 --> 00:17:02.429 instrumentals designed to score a bank robbery 00:17:02.429 --> 00:17:04.950 in West Germany became foundational building 00:17:04.950 --> 00:17:07.470 blocks for 1990s hip hop. How does that even 00:17:07.470 --> 00:17:09.789 happen? It comes down to the texture of the sound. 00:17:10.509 --> 00:17:12.549 Quincy Jones's track Snow Creatures from the 00:17:12.549 --> 00:17:15.289 film was heavily sampled by iconic artists like 00:17:15.289 --> 00:17:18.470 Gangstar and Common. Wow. But the most famous 00:17:18.470 --> 00:17:20.930 example is a track on the dollar score called 00:17:20.930 --> 00:17:25.289 Kitty with the Bent Frame. In 1995, the legendary 00:17:25.289 --> 00:17:28.529 hip -hop duo Mobb Deep took a sample from that 00:17:28.529 --> 00:17:31.650 specific track, slowed it down, and used it as 00:17:31.650 --> 00:17:34.849 the menacing atmospheric backbone for their track, 00:17:35.589 --> 00:17:38.750 Shook Ones, Part 2. So what does this all mean? 00:17:38.809 --> 00:17:40.930 I mean, that is mind -blowing. Shook Ones, Part 00:17:40.930 --> 00:17:43.549 2 is widely considered one of the greatest, grittiest 00:17:43.549 --> 00:17:46.009 East Coast hip -hop beats of all time. It really 00:17:46.009 --> 00:17:48.450 is. And its DNA comes from a slapstick Warren 00:17:48.450 --> 00:17:50.690 Beatty heist movie. It makes sense when you think 00:17:50.690 --> 00:17:52.630 about the underlying tension of the film, though. 00:17:52.730 --> 00:17:55.289 How so? Beneath the comedy, Dollars is about 00:17:55.289 --> 00:17:58.230 paranoia, gritty urban landscapes, and survival 00:17:58.230 --> 00:18:00.670 against violent criminals. Those are the exact 00:18:00.670 --> 00:18:02.930 themes Mobb Deep was exploring in Queensbridge 00:18:02.930 --> 00:18:06.710 24 years later. The 1970s cinematic tension translated 00:18:06.710 --> 00:18:09.789 perfectly to 1990s street narratives. That is 00:18:09.789 --> 00:18:13.079 just incredible. It shows how art can be completely 00:18:13.079 --> 00:18:16.319 recontextualized. But it brings us to the ultimate 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:18.920 verdict on the film itself. Right, the critical 00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:21.920 reception. Yeah, because we know the music has 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:24.759 absolutely stood the test of time. We know the 00:18:24.759 --> 00:18:28.259 plot is a mechanical marvel. But how did audiences 00:18:28.259 --> 00:18:31.740 and critics actually react to this massive genre 00:18:31.740 --> 00:18:34.559 -bending experiment when it hit theaters in December 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:38.119 of 1971? The reaction was fiercely divided. It 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:39.980 was a film that seemed to actively frustrate 00:18:39.980 --> 00:18:42.160 as many people as it delighted, largely because 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:44.119 of that very dissonance we've been discussing. 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:47.200 On the positive side, you had heavyweights like 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:49.500 Roger Ebert who absolutely loved it. He really 00:18:49.500 --> 00:18:51.420 did. Yeah, he gave it three out of four stars. 00:18:51.779 --> 00:18:53.740 He called it a slick and breakneck caper that 00:18:53.740 --> 00:18:56.539 runs like a well -oiled machine. He specifically 00:18:56.539 --> 00:18:58.980 praised Warren Beatty, saying he was the best 00:18:58.980 --> 00:19:01.319 con man in movies since Clark Abel. High praise. 00:19:01.900 --> 00:19:04.940 Very. Ebert loved that Joe Collins wasn't narcissistic 00:19:04.940 --> 00:19:07.579 about his physical looks, but narcissistic about 00:19:07.579 --> 00:19:10.819 his style. He was a guy deeply in love with the 00:19:10.819 --> 00:19:14.000 art of the con. Charles Champlin of the LA Times 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:16.940 also raved about it, specifically praising how 00:19:16.940 --> 00:19:19.700 the grueling realism of the Hamburg setting made 00:19:19.700 --> 00:19:21.980 the high -stakes charade feel alive. But then 00:19:21.980 --> 00:19:24.140 you look at the detractors, and they zeroed in 00:19:24.140 --> 00:19:26.259 on the exact same elements but viewed them as 00:19:26.259 --> 00:19:28.970 fatal flaws. Like who? While Gene Siskel gave 00:19:28.970 --> 00:19:31.609 it two and a half stars, he argued that the script 00:19:31.609 --> 00:19:34.569 constantly interrupted a slick, intelligent caper 00:19:34.569 --> 00:19:37.869 with jarring slapstick humor. He famously claimed 00:19:37.869 --> 00:19:40.670 it tried to be both a comedy and a caper and 00:19:40.670 --> 00:19:44.269 ultimately failed at both. Ouch. Yeah. And reviewers 00:19:44.269 --> 00:19:46.029 from the New York Times and Channel 4 in the 00:19:46.029 --> 00:19:48.730 UK pointed to that epic freezing chase sequence. 00:19:49.269 --> 00:19:51.650 They felt it was incredibly long and frankly 00:19:51.650 --> 00:19:53.690 tiring to watch. Which is so interesting because 00:19:53.690 --> 00:19:56.450 the realism of that chase is exactly what Champlin 00:19:56.450 --> 00:19:58.680 was praising. This raises an important question 00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:01.480 about directorial fit. Arthur D. Murphy highlighted 00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:03.519 this in his review for Variety. What did he say? 00:20:03.799 --> 00:20:05.720 He suggested that Richard Brooks might have simply 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:08.200 been too serious a filmmaker for this specific 00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:11.059 material. Brooks was a director who insisted 00:20:11.059 --> 00:20:13.880 on heavy character depth, who insisted on putting 00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:17.279 his actors through physical hell on actual locations. 00:20:17.420 --> 00:20:20.390 Right, the freezing rail yards. Yeah. Did that 00:20:20.390 --> 00:20:22.990 heavy, serious directorial style fundamentally 00:20:22.990 --> 00:20:25.549 clash with a lighthearted script featuring a 00:20:25.549 --> 00:20:28.670 giant swinging neon dollar sign? It's the ultimate 00:20:28.670 --> 00:20:31.630 cinematic identity crisis. Are you watching a 00:20:31.630 --> 00:20:33.829 gritty, realistic thriller about international 00:20:33.829 --> 00:20:36.730 drug cartels drowning in frozen lakes? Or are 00:20:36.730 --> 00:20:39.349 you watching a breezy comedy about a hooker outsmarting 00:20:39.349 --> 00:20:41.849 a Vegas mobster? The critics couldn't decide, 00:20:42.029 --> 00:20:44.289 and perhaps the film itself never fully decided 00:20:44.289 --> 00:20:47.240 either. But that unresolved tension is exactly 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:49.420 what makes it such a fascinating piece of media 00:20:49.420 --> 00:20:52.740 to examine today. It refuses to be neatly categorized. 00:20:53.180 --> 00:20:54.440 Absolutely. I mean, put yourself in the shoes 00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:57.039 of someone buying a ticket in 1971. You have 00:20:57.039 --> 00:20:59.279 no idea what you are about to experience. So 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:01.039 let's bring all these threads together. Sounds 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:03.819 good. We've journeyed through the strict, impenetrable 00:21:03.819 --> 00:21:07.900 privacy laws of a 1970s Hamburg bank to understand 00:21:07.900 --> 00:21:10.660 the game theory of robbing the robbers. We've 00:21:10.660 --> 00:21:12.779 broken down the mechanical vulnerabilities of 00:21:12.779 --> 00:21:15.819 analog camera systems. We've survived a physically 00:21:15.819 --> 00:21:18.720 exhausting chase across a freezing German landscape. 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:21.440 We've navigated a lethal game of chance with 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:25.039 an LSD -laced bottle of champagne. We've seen 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:27.920 how this genre -clashing film deeply divided 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:30.680 the greatest film critics of its era, and how 00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:32.880 it accidentally laid down the musical tracks 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:36.450 for the golden age of 90s hip hop. It is a massive 00:21:36.450 --> 00:21:39.049 complicated footprint for a single film to leave 00:21:39.049 --> 00:21:42.130 behind. It really is. Thank you so much for joining 00:21:42.130 --> 00:21:44.250 us on this deep dive. I want to leave you with 00:21:44.250 --> 00:21:46.690 one final thought to explore on your own. Oh, 00:21:46.750 --> 00:21:49.140 please do. When we look at a movie like Dollars 00:21:49.140 --> 00:21:52.200 today, it operates as a fascinating time capsule. 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:55.180 And not just of cinema, but of how we conceptualize 00:21:55.180 --> 00:21:57.519 privacy and theft. That's a great point. The 00:21:57.519 --> 00:22:01.240 entire plot hinges on physical cash, locked in 00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:04.599 physical steel boxes, guarded by mechanical sweeping 00:22:04.599 --> 00:22:08.759 cameras. In 1971, secrecy was a physical destination 00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:11.059 you could literally walk into. But think about 00:22:11.059 --> 00:22:14.559 how that same heist would look today. Our money, 00:22:14.839 --> 00:22:17.740 our secrets, and our illicit activities aren't 00:22:17.740 --> 00:22:20.339 stored in West German vaults anymore. They are 00:22:20.339 --> 00:22:22.740 hidden behind layers of digital cryptography 00:22:22.740 --> 00:22:25.180 on decentralized servers. It's all just data 00:22:25.180 --> 00:22:28.759 now. Exactly. The era of the analog bank heist 00:22:28.759 --> 00:22:30.819 where you could defeat a security system with 00:22:30.819 --> 00:22:33.299 a good stopwatch and a distraction is completely 00:22:33.299 --> 00:22:36.619 dead. Dollars is a brilliant reminder of a bygone 00:22:36.619 --> 00:22:38.500 era where wealth was something you could actually 00:22:38.500 --> 00:22:40.819 hold in your hands and where stealing it meant 00:22:40.819 --> 00:22:42.819 you had to physically outrun the people you took 00:22:42.819 --> 00:22:43.200 it from.