The Score (film)
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| The Score | |
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| Directed by | Frank Oz |
| Produced by | Gary Foster |
| Written by | Daniel E. Taylor, Kario Salem |
| Starring | Robert De Niro Edward Norton Marlon Brando Angela Bassett |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 13 July 2001 (USA) |
| Running time | 124 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ US$68,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
The Score is a 2001 crime drama. The film's cast includes Robert De Niro as Nick Wells, a professional art thief from Montreal, who wants out of the criminal life for good because of his age and his girlfriend (Angela Bassett), Edward Norton as Jack Teller, the ambitious new kid who teams up with Wells for this "inside job", and Marlon Brando as Max, Wells' financial partner and good friend, who plans the caper and connects Wells with Teller. For Actor's Studio graduates Brando and De Niro, the only two people ever to win an Academy Award for the same starring role, as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II respectively, this was the first and only time they actually appeared in a film together.
This 124-minute redux of the antihero seeking redemption and freedom after his inevitable "last big job" tale was directed by Frank Oz. Oz is perhaps best known for his work as a puppeteer with Jim Henson's Muppets. Some have claimed that during the production, Brando, who was infamously difficult to work with, by most accounts, repeatedly argued with Oz and called him "Miss Piggy". [1]
It was based upon a story by first-timers Daniel E. Taylor and Emmy-winner Kario Salem.
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[edit] Plot
In the film, a retiring thief, Wells, is persuaded to engage in one last heist with help from rookie thief Teller. The two men intend to steal a priceless French scepter, once thought lost but rediscovered as it was brought into Canada illegally. However the job requires getting the artifact out of the heavily-guarded Montreal Customs House, where Teller has taken a maintenance job. In order to avoid suspicion, Teller has played the part of Brian, a man with learning disabilities.
[edit] Critics
The film received a mix of positive and critical reviews, due to some critics expecting more from a film with a core cast boasting four Oscars and thirteen nominations between the four of them. Peter Travers, a film critic for Rolling Stone, pointed out that when "two Don Corleones team up", he expected "the kind of movie that makes people say, 'I'd pay to see these guys just read from the phone book.'" [2] Instead, what he had to say about it was: "There's nothing you can't see coming in this flick, including the surprise ending. Quick, somebody get a phone book." However, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three and a half stars out of four, calling it "the best pure heist movie in recent years." [3]
Frank Oz on the DVD commentary defends the film as one in which he desired to take risks. Therefore, they started filming with an incomplete script and used several shooting methods that are usually frowned upon in the industry.
[edit] Facts and Trivia
- After a July 13, 2001 opening, the sixty-eight million dollar film earned a gross domestic box office take of $71,069,884.[4]
- Angela Bassett won a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her portrayal of Wells' girlfriend, Diane. Some critics felt, though, that her part was underused in the film.
- This film was Marlon Brando's final completed film before his death in 2004. However two years after his death, he appeared in the film Superman Returns in archive footage as Jor-El, a role he played in the original 1978 film Superman: The Movie and the 1980 sequel Superman II. But his appearance in Superman II was cut therefore it was reinstated in Superman Returns by director Bryan Singer.
- This is one of the few movies featuring the rare BMW 8 Series, which was driven in the movie by Robert De Niro.
- Edward Norton later admitted he wasn't very fond of the script and only did the film to work with De Niro and Brando.
- Most of the conversations between Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando are improvised.
- Water was used to amplify an explosion and crack a safe. The science of this was put to the test in the television series Hollywood Science and later Mythbusters. On the Mythbusters episode "Crimes and Myth-Demeanors 2", the experiment showed over a dozen thermal rods were needed to drill a hole, and the heat completely destroyed the items inside. Also, the safe leaked and had to be sealed from the inside in order to completely fill it with water. Finally, the explosion successfully dislodged the safe door, but none of the items inside remained intact.
