Movie review: ‘Rough Cut’

FloridaGator80
A promotional still photograph from the movie “Rough Cut.”

I had to dig deep to find “Rough Cut” and then only on VHS tape (later I’d find it on Blu-Ray, but streaming is tough). “Rough Cut” with Burt Reynolds was typically Burt in 1980: It’s light and friendly; it has some action; and it has a couple of mostly mild car chases. It’s also set mostly in England. It’s a shame that funny little films such as “Rough Cut” or “Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?” (click here to read my review) have been so difficult to find. However, with streaming services needing content, you’ll probably find it much easier today than when I originally posted this review in 2014). You don’t have to think much to enjoy “Rough Cut” and it’s also marvelous because of a nice turn by the legendary actor David Niven in the twilight of his career. Well, for what’s it worth, it’s worth it just for the fun.

‘Rough Cut’
(1980; 112 minutes; rated PG; directed by Don Siegel – plus two additional directors – and starring Burt Reynolds, Lesley-Anne Down and David Niven)

A CAPER FILM THAT’S MORE BURT THAN CAPER

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia and the updating of links on Jan. 28, 2020. I again expanded the review on March 1, 2023. I again updated the review on Feb. 6, 2025.)

In 1980, Burt Reynolds was three years removed from his megahit “Smokey and the Bandit” (click here for my review) and coming off turns in “Semi-Tough” (click here to read my review) with Kris Kristofferson and, in my mind, his best action-comedy work in “Hooper” (click here to read my review). So, one of my favorite Reynolds flicks, “Rough Cut,” comes out … with a whimper. It’s certainly not up to the usual watchability of Burt, but for some reason I’ve always enjoyed it.

Burt would see his career wane and wax in the coming three decades, but he was definitely in his prime in 1980. “Rough Cut” showcases his natural ease in front of the camera, his insouciance for responsibility and a taste for danger.

However, for everyone associated with it, the road must have been a rough cut – pun intended. Its original director was fired in mid-film, his replacement fired and the first was brought back and a third brought in for post-filming of secondary scenes. Its original writer, the wonderful Larry Gelbart of TV’s “M*A*S*H” fame, hated the final cut so much he had his name taken off. Instead, you’ll find one of his “M*A*S*H” characters’ names as the screenwriter: “Francis Burns.” Oh, you’ll remember him best as the nebbish “Maj. Frank Burns.” Ouch.

A promotional still photograph from the movie “Rough Cut.”

On the positive side, you get in Siegel someone who directed “Dirty Harry” with Clint Eastwood (click here to read my review) as well as a variety of westerns and dramatic Clint fare (take “Play Misty for Me”). Still, Siegel was fired and then re-hired for this flick. Sigh. What a cluster from the filmmaking world. From that level of incompetence, you’d have to believe they were doing a how-to film for coming corporate executives in the U.S.

A promotional still photograph from the movie “Rough Cut.”

You probably don’t need for me to tell you that critics weren’t kind either, but, then again, they’ve never appreciated Reynolds’ work except maybe for “Deliverance,” “Boogie Nights” (an Oscar nomination for that one) and just a little bit for the twisted politician he plays in “Striptease” with Demi Moore.

Still, “Rough Cut” is light, fun and is simply fun to watch. Mostly, it’s a hoot, but, like I’ve noted, it’s not Burt at his best.

In “Rough Cut,” Reynolds plays “Jack Rhodes,” who is an American ex-pat in London. He’s suave, sophisticated, has his own restaurant and … is a top-flight jewel thief to boot. Enter David Niven, who plays retiring Scotland Yard “Chief Inspector Cyril Willis.” Niven wants to cap his career by catching the thief no cop has ever caught – you guessed it. Burt.

So, Niven blackmails an upper-crust but larcenous woman, Lesley-Anne Down as “Gillian Bromley,” to help him get information so he can put the handcuffs on Burt. The plot then moves forward with plans for a heist of $30 million in diamonds and everyone’s up to their eyebrows in it. The action moves from Wimbledon for tennis to Amsterdam and finally in a topical setting where all the principals gather.

There are a few twists and turns but you’re probably ahead of the plot at this point. At least they tried. They even have Down as the getaway driver here. I guess the “Bandit” was left back across the pond by Reynolds. In any case, the good guys get what they want, as does the woman … and I guess they would have found it difficult not to live happily ever after.

Now, let’s take a look at some at the top of the cast …

  • A promotional still photograph from the movie “Rough Cut.”

    An Oscar nominee (not for this one), Reynolds does most of his usual tricks in this one: He is flip and engaging, then he’s tough and ethical even though he’s a jewel thief. He does his trademark deadpan look at the camera when Down tells him the car in which they’re riding – and being chased by police – is stolen and, despite his tough core, he falls easily for the girl (given it’s Lesley-Anne Down in a bathtub, you might, too). Reynolds has also been in roles as eclectic as “The End” or low-key as TV’s “Evening Shade” (a Golden Globe win and two nominations for that series). He was quite prolific – with 178 acting credits earned over a career spanning seven decades. He was nominated for and won a Globe for “Boogie Nights” and I liked him in his Globe-nominated original “The Longest Yard.” Sadly, Burt passed at 82 in 2018 of a heart attack.

  • A promotional still photograph from the movie “Rough Cut.”

    An Oscar winner and two-time Globe winner (not for this one), Niven does the best acting job of the top three. In my opinion, he had got more pure acting talent than the other two combined. He does the hounded, worried and just plain world-weary cop very well while never straying far from the sophistication that defined his career. Niven shows how to shift gears in a character with apparent ease. He would wind up an illustrious career that included an Oscar for “Separate Tables” (he got a Globe for that one, too) and I first saw him (and instantly liked his work) in “The Guns of Navarone” (click here for my review). He died of Lou Gehrig’s Disease in 1983 at the age of 73.

  • A promotional still photograph from the movie “Rough Cut.”

    Like Reynolds, Down is smooth and sophisticated here. A Globe nominee (not for this one), Down conveys the naughty side of her character with ease and tries to be almost ill at ease at showing how much she likes it. Down comes to enjoy Reynolds’ company even more. Down does her best job as the unwitting intermediary between Reynolds and Niven and doesn’t realize the true plot until the final scene. She has also been in “Hanover Street” with Harrison Ford as well as “Sphinx” and the steamy and forgotten “The Betsy.” She earned her nomination for the TV mini-series “North and South.”

The body of the supporting cast is members of Reynolds’ team that pulls off the jewel heist. However, while solid, they don’t do work that pushes their effort here to the fore and so I’m not going to examine their work in any detail.

Primary director Siegel is more noted for films such as “Dirty Harry” and was fired during filming by producer David Merrick, according to IMDb.com. He was replaced by Peter R. Hunt, who was then fired before filming ended and Siegel brought back. Siegel did great work with Clint including “Escape from Alcatraz” and the original “The Beguiled” as well as with John Wayne (in the Duke’s last with “The Shootist” – click here to read my review) as well as action-competitor Charles Bronson (in the spy thriller “Telefon” – click here to read my review). Siegel died at 78 in 1991 of cancer.

“Rough Cut” was the 41st ranked film at the box office in 1980 with $16.6 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. Although much more attractive to a variety of audiences, it fell behind even Chuck Norris’ martial arts flick “The Octagon” (37th with $18.9 million – click here for my review) and a re-release of Disney’s “The AristoCats” (38th and $18 million). It doesn’t take a genius to know the No. 1 film that year was “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back” with $209.3 million. Other films I liked that year were “The Blue Brothers” (10th with $57.2 million – click here for a brief review of it) and, again of course, the golf comedy classic “Caddyshack” (17th with $39.8 million). Here are the other films from 1980 that I’ve reviewed:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Reynolds full birth name was Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. and his nickname was “Buddy;” and Niven’s full birth name was James David Graham Niven and is nickname was “Niv.”
  • Not only was the director’s chair a bit of a carousel, but Siegel filmed three separate endings to “Rough Cut,” the second director did one and a fifth was filmed in post-production by yet another director. No wonder this one didn’t reach its full potential.
  • Jacqueline Bisset turned down the role of “Gillian Bromley.” You remember her from a great T-shirt scene while diving with Nick Nolte in “The Deep,” and she was also in “Bullitt” with Steve McQueen (click here to read my review) and “Wild Orchid.”
  • This film was the first over which Niven filed a lawsuit after the completion of the movie. He had been in films since 1932 and sued over salary for time worked and his image placement in U.S. advertising (he wasn’t there). He sued for $1.8 million, but I don’t have time to do legal research and find out the result of the action.
  • A brief scene at the Wimbledon tennis tournament was from 1978 and showed a match featuring Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Conners.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “This movie was originally intended to be directed by Blake Edwards. Edwards left the project and the film’s development was postponed. Ironically, Edwards was also the original director of City Heat (1984) which Burt Reynolds also starred in but bowed out of the film after creative differences with Clint Eastwood. Edwards and Reynolds eventually worked together on The Man Who Loved Women (1983).”
  • Click here for a rather lengthy trivia page about “Rough Cut” from IMDb.com …

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