11 Harrowhouse

Candice Bergen and Charles Grodin

Misconceived but full of good things, 11 Harrowhouse (sometimes called Fast Fortune) is also a classic example of a film that didnā€™t do incredibly well at test screenings and then did even less well with real audiences after it was ā€œimprovedā€. Itā€™s a paranoid screwball heist caper starring Charles Grodin as a smalltime diamond trader who decides to rob a big diamond house situated at 11 Harrowhouse Street in London. This racket run as if it were a venerable institution is headed by one Mr Meecham, or “Sir”, a man played with a curled lip and superciliousness at full blare by John Gielgud. Along for what looks like the sheer hell of it … Read more

Let Them All Talk

Meryl Streep in spectacles

Meryl Streep, Candice Bergman and Dianne Wiest star in Let Them All Talk and even before itā€™s started the names alone seem to suggest two possible outcomes. Itā€™s either going to be an American version of one of those British Dame Dramas, in which various theatrical Maggies or Judis are arranged fragrantly and tastefully, with the odd ā€œfuckā€ thrown in to show the noble ladies are still down to earth. Or itā€™s going to be a female version of one of those Four Old Dudes Go to Vegas comedies, in which the once hip gracefully accept theyā€™re now in the hip-replacement demographic, with the odd ā€œfuckā€ thrown, possibly of the physical sort, just … Read more