Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageCrackers (1983)
Director: Louis Malle
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Whatever your opinions of the art-house gloss that used to varnish Malle's films from Lacombe Lucien to Atlantic City, they did at least suggest a beating heart at work. This thin concoction, based on a 1958 Roman comedy, I Soliti Ignoti, has a gang of villains gathering around Warden's rickety pawnshop, mostly to avoid the mean backstreets of San Francisco. Spurred on by poverty and frustration, they decide to crack his safe, only to botch the whole caper in a welter of escalating cack-handedness. There's a nice cameo from Shawn, doing nothing but eat dinner without André, but Sutherland is uncharacteristically null. Cardiac arrest finally seizes the film, after a long case of terminal whimsy. CPea.Author: CPea
Cast & crew
Director: Louis Malle
Producer: Edward Lewis, Robert Cortes
Cast: Donald Sutherland, Jack Warden, Sean Penn, Wallace Shawn, Larry Riley, Trinidad Silva full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 91 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'
Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now