Picking Nits
Hostages riding together; mayor's public meeting; flawless hostage cover stories; wall materials; Yankees hat; easy confession; kept Nazi evidence; how Dalton knew
In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:15Read transcript
- The accomplice hostages all riding together in one car to pick up Owen is an almost unforgivable mistake; it exists to show the whole crew, including the diamond expert hyam.
- The mayor meeting Madeline publicly is questioned; the counter is that her philanthropist role gives cover.
- Every accomplice hostage passing the post-robbery interviews without a mistake is asking a lot, though the premise is strong.
- The biggest nitpick is where the crew got materials to build the fake wall and how it was done in 12 hours.
- Anyone wearing a Yankees hat, like Owen's disguise, looks suspicious, prompting jokes about offending Jacko and the Bronx.
- Plummer's character admits too easily to being a Nazi diamond smuggler; the counter cites his lip-quiver acting choice at the end of his life.
- Keeping Nazi evidence in a safe-deposit box instead of burning it is questioned; the counter is that it is his original sin.
- How Owen knew about the box is explained as Hime, a professor, tracing the diamonds to Case, which the film could have spent 20 seconds on.