$ (1971)

Wow! Such a good movie.

To me, this movie is perfection.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Goldie Hawn seems as much to have admitted that she took her role in $ where she got to co-star with Warren Beatty for a chance to get a free trip to Germany and specifically Hamburg. As it turned out it was an average caper film which did show Hamburg off to the world.One thing I was curious about was satisfied. In its day Hamburg was known as a place for good times and a lot of $ was shot in the famous Reeperbahn district a place where many travelers partied. If you remember Ship Of Fools, the Nazi favoring publisher Jose Ferrer entertains the passengers with a German ballad On The Reeperbahn a rather lusty number. Now I finally get to see what he loved.Beatty is a security expert and Hawn is a call girl and Beatty works for a bank in Hamburg where many criminals hide cash of all kinds laundering their dirty money. Cash and other illegal items as well. Specifically drug peddling Arthur Brauss, mob lawyer Robert Webber, and army sergeant Scott Brady who has a lucrative smuggling sideline.I will say Beatty's plan was both devastatingly simple and took advantage of his position. You'll have to see what it is. Goldie's charms also come into play.$ is not the greatest film for either of the stars, but their fans should be happy.

Oscar-winner writer & director Richard Brooks of "Elmer Gantry" was a consummate professional at making movies during his 35-year career in Hollywood. "$" exemplifies his accomplished skills as both a writer and director. This nimble, adrenaline-driven, R-rated, heist thriller set in Germany came out during the free-wheeling 1970s when Hollywood could get away with a little gratuitous nudity and a lot of grit. Nobody in this amoral actioneer is entirely honest. Like the characters in Italian westerns, everyone wears shades of gray in various intensities with our heroic couple, Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn, being a more sympathetic duo than the utterly ruthless villains who display few qualms once they figure out that they've been duped. Mind you, some people may never get past the first 50 minutes as Brooks cross-cuts rapidly between characters and settings like an insane samurai warrior hacking up his adversaries with a kinetic passion. Reportedly, when Goldie Hawn finally took a look at "$," she could make neither head nor tale out of it. After those initial fifty minutes, the action settles down and then takes off like a fireball.Debonair bank security expert Joe Collins (Warren Beatty of "Shampoo") and his accomplice, goofy call girl Dawn Devine (Goldie Hawn of "Cactus Flower"), conspire to steal a fortune from three sleazy criminals. Las Vegas attorney Mr. North (Robert Webber) and his bodyguard conceal their skim money in the bank. Sarge (Scott Brady of "Marooned") and the Major (Robert Stiles of "Doctor's Wives") keep the profits from their kickbacks and bribes from black market activities in the same bank. A murderous drug smuggler, the Candy Man (Arthur Brauss of "Victory"), keeps loot likewise in the same establishment. Since the local authorities cannot legally obtain access to these safety deposit boxes, the criminals can keep their stuff safely stashed without fear of confiscation. Joe knows the bank and its vault as well as its personnel from top to bottom, and the head of the bank, Mr. Kessel (Gert Frobe of "Goldfinger") loves Joe as if he were his own son. Joe has spent about a year installing a state-of-the-art, 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, security system in the bank. Joe has clocked the police response time to the bank alarms at three minutes through heavy downtown traffic.During the first half of this swiftly-paced, two-hour thriller, Brooks establishes our heroes, villains, the arena of the action, and the plot. Joe and Dawn are going to hit the villains and take their loot because the villains cannot resort to the police. During the second half, Joe locks himself into the vault and transfers the ill-gotten gains from the safe deposit boxes of the bad guys to Dawn's box. In the third part, Joe and Dawn hit the streets on the lam from the evil drug dealer and the tenacious military guys have figured out that he is the culprit who robbed them. Brooks generates maximum suspense during the vault robbery as the authorities struggle to open the time lock on the vault. While he is trapped inside the vault, Joe times himself so that every minute that the camera isn't aimed at him, he is emptying or filling the safe deposit boxes. The tension and suspense are incredible during these harrowing moments. The pursuit that takes up the third part is pretty incredible. Quincy Jones' Grammy nominated music with Little Richard screaming maniacally on the soundtrack accentuates these larcenous shenanigans, and Brooks snaps up the pace with rapid-fire cutting so you are poised on the edge of your seat throughout the movie. "$" was lensed on location in Germany and the exotic setting adds to the atmosphere. Goldie Hawn is hilarious as a former Las Vegas showgirl that worries about holding up her end of the crime. Beatty is a self-assured man who can get out of any predicament no matter how challenging it is. As the villains, Scott Brady and Arthur Brauss never let our hero get very far ahead of them."$" is a top-notch, heist thriller that in the words of one of its villains bristles with a lot of "God, guts, and get-up-and-go!"

I like heist movies. This one is a bit different.I liked the style of the movie a lot. The music and the camera work were pretty interesting.I noticed some reviewers were confused by the plot. It's the viewers job to fill in some blanks. Some people will dislike that, others will appreciate that their intelligence is not being insulted.The movie consists of three main sections. The intro, the heist and the getaway. Goldie Hawn is adorable in the intro section. Beatty does a nice job during the heist section. The getaway is the weak part of the movie, if only because it challenges my ability to suspend my disbelief. Some parts of it were cool though.I think Beatty was convincing both as a security expert and thief. Hawn, as mentioned above is adorable (I admit I have always found her attractive.) Reasons to watch the movie - you like Beatty, you like Hawn, you like heist movies (though there are better,) or you like quirky 70s movies. The last item should not be overlooked, because there's a distinctive style in certain 70s movies that's no longer seen - for example the implication that sex and drugs and alcohol is simply a lifestyle, rather than a problem that needs to be addressed.

American banking engineer, orchestrating the opening of a high-tech new bank in Germany, conspires to rip-off a gang of crooks and low-lifes who keep their loot in private boxes at the branch. There is quite a long set-up to the protracted chase in this film; luckily it involves a daffy, wonderful Goldie Hawn as a hooker/accomplice to thief Warren Beatty. Hawn is a living, breathing cliffhanger, you never know what she's going to do next. In the middle of the hysteria, there's a beautifully modulated moment where she tells Beatty about a screen-test she did for the movies ("First take, nothing. Second take, I dunno know...tears. Third take, I forgot my own name. And I made it up myself!"). The chase takes up about two entire reels, and it's been edited with hairbreadth timing. I also loved what first appeared to be a twist ending: someone dupes someone else, and then in turn gets duped. It would've been an awesome climax, but there's a weird tag at the very end of the picture (ostensibly to wrap it up with a bow) which is sort of a letdown. It seems to involve none of the participants--only their props!--which leads me to believe this was a post-production/last minute decision. Still, "$" (pronounced "Dollars") is funny, smart, and filmed in a cool, jazzy style that is no longer fashionable but certainly memorable. ***1/2 from ****