2hotFeature one of my absolute favorites!

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

BasicLogic The original novel written by Gerald A. Browne is a masterpiece, an immediate classic, but it was completely ruined by this lousy film. First of all, the screenplay was horrible! How come you'd use the leading role in this novel, Chesser, played by Charles Grodin, to narrate almost every segment of this film, used him to describe what's going on and what he felt. It made this film like Chesser have become the 1st person in his memoir to talk about what he'd encountered for his revenge and heist against 11 Harrowhouse. We are watching a film instead of listening to an audio recording. What a lousy and lazy arrangement this stupid screenplay was. And then, the director seemed to be a moron who just lazily followed the script and shot the picture as it was. What a stupid moron!Secondly, signing up Charles Grodin to play the protagonist was the 2nd worse thing. This guy was not a good actor, but a deadbeat 2-tier actor with a protruding lower chin and lower lip over his upper lip, in addition to his facial features, eyes, nose, eyebrows, mouth (the lower lip overbites the upper lip) all squeezed together to the center that limited his expressions to the least. What we saw was an unwelcoming face like a poorly designed mask. He in this film just looked like a deadbeat, passionless zombie. So making Maren, played by Candice Bergen, to love him without any reservation was just so impossible to swallow. Gerald A. Browne always made his heroines in his novels a headstrong, iron-willed, smart and tough ladies, never gave a damn to almost anything, a female far superior to her counterparts, i.e., either their boyfriends or husbands. All the fantastic and amazing heists were almost carried through by their female intelligence and abnormally high I.Q. Candice Bergen to play Maren was a pretty good cast but partnered with the lousy Charles Grodin was just a unmatchable waste. What a shame. James Mason played the important inside man who suffered terminal cancer was a good cast job, but again, the lousy script didn't allow him to show more of his talent.During the final car chase, so many bullets hit the van, but none of them even hit the rear tires. The chase cars explosions were just laughable. Riding horses to chase high speed car....Are you kidding me?!If compares this film with the other film, "Green Ice", also adapted from Mr. Browne's novel, the latter was far better than this 11 Harrowhouse. All the ingredients were there both in the novel and the film, the budget based upon what we've seen in this film, would be also quite sufficient, but it's just like the main theme in this film, about Diamonds, this film looked just like a poorly cut diamond, making it worthless.

bkoganbing Apparently someone had a really good idea to save 11 Harrowhouse. They added a voice-over narration by star Charles Grodin, sharp and laconical that really lifts the film from the mediocre to the good. There seems to be another version of the film without it, but I can't imagine it being as good as this.11 Harrowhouse is the name of the address where a few people headed by John Gielgud control the diamond market of the world. They have billions of dollars or English pounds if you will of gems in their vaults and manipulate the world market value like a yo-yo. Gielgud is a cold and forbidding man and he's one who delights in screwing the little people in his employ. One of them is diamond cutter James Mason who is as reliable as Alec Guinness was in The Lavendar Hill Mob. He's also got a plan. When Grodin and Candice Bergen come up short with 'the System' as Gielgud's consortium is called, Mason has them as allies.The three of them have the backing of billionaire Trevor Howard who also likes messing with people. He messes with Grodin and Grodin has no choice but to aid in the robbery.The best part of the film is the robbery itself. Someone has to be sacrificed, but the idea is incredibly ingenious and bloody simple.Mason comes off best in this, a little man who just wants to get even with those who have treated him like a doormat all his working life.An enjoyable caper film, diamond exchange in Amsterdam, take note.

lifegozon8 After so many years, I need to acquire a copy of this movie. I was ten years old when I saw it at (what is now) America's oldest drive-in theater (1934), Shankweiler's, in Orefield, Pa. near Allentown (this drive-in theater is still open during the summer and I encourage all enthusiasts and movie buffs to support it).I remember enjoying watching it and as the years have gone by, I seem to imagine that it was even better than I remembered it. I do recall Grodin's voice-over giving me the biggest laughs, and other moments of tension and timing during the heist made it all the more charming.I did have a crush on the younger Candace Bergen and I'm eager to see what she looked like back then. I am curious to see whether or not the 36 years in between will alter my opinion of the movie.

curlew-2 Considering the pedigree of the cast it's odd that this film didn't do better. There's much to recommend this story of a diamond broker being maneuvered into robbing a London diamond exchange of its inventory (a caper involving such tools as a desperate employee, a piece of chocolate cake and a cockroach). The dialogue is liberally peppered with Grodin's wry voice-over commentary, and this film is one of the few places where his style of humor actually manages to work. It's no Topkapi, but a pleasant way to waste some time. Considerably more light-hearted than the Gerald Browne book on which it was based.