The first Rated-R movie ever made came out the same year as a similar ensemble heist picture THE THOMAS CROWNE AFFAIR, centering on selected thieves chosen to rob a giant bank...
And here, starring football hero turned movie star Jim Brown, THE SPLIT proves how long Brown was relevant...
At the time more famous than co-starring semi-newcomers Donald Sutherland, Warren Oates, Jack Klugman and Gene Hackman, he's also joined by Julie Harris and the always dependably rugged Ernest Borgnine...
The targeted score is a Rams football game's lucrative box office, which even includes a CROWNE-like multi-screen credit sequence (Brown's as smoothly-professional and sharply-dressed as Steve McQueen)...
Meanwhile Hackman plays the 11th hour token cop, right after the plot derails when Brown, initially the leader, frantically searches for both the stolen stolen money and the killer of gorgeous girlfriend Diahann Carroll...
Here's where his own gang turns violently tortuous, forcing Brown to do what he did best, both on the field and his first cinematic breakthrough THE DIRTY DOZEN, run and run fast...
But not fast enough to make this heist thriller thrilling, despite a barrage of groovy music and pulpy gun-play...
Overall, THE SPLIT never lives up to the potentially-intriguing premise or the sublime cast, who never quite click or connect together, or apart.
And here, starring football hero turned movie star Jim Brown, THE SPLIT proves how long Brown was relevant...
At the time more famous than co-starring semi-newcomers Donald Sutherland, Warren Oates, Jack Klugman and Gene Hackman, he's also joined by Julie Harris and the always dependably rugged Ernest Borgnine...
The targeted score is a Rams football game's lucrative box office, which even includes a CROWNE-like multi-screen credit sequence (Brown's as smoothly-professional and sharply-dressed as Steve McQueen)...
Meanwhile Hackman plays the 11th hour token cop, right after the plot derails when Brown, initially the leader, frantically searches for both the stolen stolen money and the killer of gorgeous girlfriend Diahann Carroll...
Here's where his own gang turns violently tortuous, forcing Brown to do what he did best, both on the field and his first cinematic breakthrough THE DIRTY DOZEN, run and run fast...
But not fast enough to make this heist thriller thrilling, despite a barrage of groovy music and pulpy gun-play...
Overall, THE SPLIT never lives up to the potentially-intriguing premise or the sublime cast, who never quite click or connect together, or apart.