11 Harrowhouse (1974)

"11 Harrowhouse" is a heist film from 1974 starring Charles Grodin, Candice Bergen, James Mason, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, and the recently deceased Peter Vaughan.I, unfortunately, saw a bad print of this which took away from my viewing. I love heist films, and the robbery of jewels here is clever and entertaining, as is the car chase toward the end.Grodin is a diamond trader, Howard R. Chesser, though he is not a major player. The Diamond Exchange in London, address 11 Harrowhouse, monitors the control of diamonds, hoarding tons of them to keep the value high. A multi-millionaire, Clyde Massey (Howard) wants a large diamond named after him and gives the million-pound deal to Chesser. Alas, when Chesser and Maren (Bergen) go to have the diamond cut, it's stolen from them.Massey then blackmails him and orders him to steal the four tons of diamonds at the Exchange. With the daredevil Maren and an inside man (Mason), Chesser gets to work. The film painstakingly shows the planning and execution of the heist, so the real excitement is the car chase that takes place.Grodin has that wry way about him that worked for the character. Though I love Candice Bergen, I've never held her acting in high esteem - her metier turned out to be comedy. She's beautiful - it's not a great role. And you can't go wrong with people like Gielgud, Mason, and Howard, all of whom are terrific.Clever heist film, attractive stars, and entertaining.

Charles Grodin is dryly disengaged throughout this sleepy comic caper, which he co-adapted from the book by Gerald A. Browne. An American thief hopes to rob Great Britain's clearing house of its diamonds, but both Grodin and accomplice/girlfriend Candice Bergen are so lethargic they fade into the woodwork. A wily supporting cast (including James Mason, John Gielgud and Trevor Howard) enlivens the picture considerably, but Aram Avakian's airy direction is practically non-existent. The film looks like it was cheaply-made, with poor editing and muddy cinematography, and yet a smugness hangs over the proceedings (as if it were a great inside joke). A flop at the box-office--the roach on the poster probably didn't help--it was quickly reissued under the title, "Anything For Love". ** from ****

I am biased- I love this movie.In the theaters when I was a kid it was so much fun thanks to the added commentary over the movie by Charles Grodin. It was dry and hilarious and brought the story to life. Years later, on a video I found at a store the narration was gone and the movie seems flatter.It is a diamond heist movie filled with unique characters and it has a lighter tone than the novel it was based on which was not only darker and tougher but had a very different ending.The mostly English cast is great, Candice Bergen is gorgeous, Grodin seems like an odd choice but by the end turns out to have been right for it, Michael Lewis' score is wonderful, and I laughed a lot (as did the rest of the audience in 1974). On top of that the caper plot is very clever and overall I think it is worth your time- if you like such things.

This is an entertaining caper film given a little extra special something by Charles Grodin's deadpan voice-over. I'm alarmed to note from other comments that there's a version without the voice-over at large, wreaking untold damage and stopping the film gaining the cult rep it would surely otherwise enjoy. This is a desecration and those responsible must be hunted down with hounds.Grodin is by turns funny and cool as hell as a small-time gem dealer forced to mount an ingenious large-scale heist against London's biggest diamond monopoly, the snobbish and deadly cabal at 11 Harrowhouse, enjoyably personified by an ice-cold John Gielgud and Peter Vaughan in full troll mode. James Mason is touching as the only decent man in the organisation and Trevor Howard on great form as the shady/barking-mad aristocrat who finances the robbery. Candice Bergen is adorable as Grodin's smart, beautiful, feisty paramour and accomplice.In some ways the film is of its time (1974), mostly in a good way. In fact the only potentially laughable/winceable groovy-London moment is when Bergen casts the I-Ching while speeding along in her sports car; even that struck me as pretty cool actually. The schmaltzy piano-bar soundtrack works wonderfully, I think. London itself - buildings, vehicles, Pools-playing cockney security guards - looks gorgeously down-at-heel and I never watch this film without a twinge of nostalgia.Catch it if it's ever on TV and you're in the mood for escapist fun - do make sure it's the version with the voice-over, though.