Review of The Split

I last saw this movie when it was released at the Galion Theater when double features were common and the local theaters would show strange combinations for kids at the matinees--but enough about my journey to the past --when I thought of this movie I remembered a pretty good heist movie with good actors Now that I see it again it is not perfectly awful but not that good. The scenes where Jim Brown recruits his team--usually this is a good sequence from Seven Samurai to today's films --is kinda stupid with Brown provoking all his candidates, though it is fun to see him and Ernest Borgnine punching it out. Was the scene between Jim and Diahanna Carroll improvised? Because they don't seem to have much to say. They look good together but she is completely wasted. The business with James Whitmore is really weird and he disappears quickly. The hold-up of the stadium is the best part. Maybe they should have had the final shout-out there. And speak of the final shoot-out it is poorly staged and without tension. What is good about the film is that we can watch Donald Sutherland in an early bad guy role, Borgnine and Gene Hackman(who is also wasted) and other good actors. And Jim Brown has never looked any better or more relaxed. If this was from a book, perhaps the book put it together better but I was disappointed. The script needed six more revisions.