No murders. No corpse. Just a well thought out jewel hoist which will allow its gang members to live a life a bit above their working class status. All the adult characters and actors are human, remarkably absorbing, and given quite a lot of stature or presence.
The trouble is the boy. He seems to fit nicely enough into the scheme of the plot until he feels spurned by a young woman he's childishly in love with. He recognizes this rejection in several steps, but from the first disillusionment, he strikes a sudden self-righteous pose which makes him a very poor foil to the sympathetic jewel thieves.
Do we want this kid, the son of a cop, to be more cop than his father? Do we appreciate his detective-like qualities, and all his not credible luck in bringing down his adult antagonists? No matter how many bad traits the plot throws at the thieves, none of them really stick. What does hold, unfortunately, is the boy's rather sniveling, boy-scout alignment with both the jewelers and the police.
The trouble is the boy. He seems to fit nicely enough into the scheme of the plot until he feels spurned by a young woman he's childishly in love with. He recognizes this rejection in several steps, but from the first disillusionment, he strikes a sudden self-righteous pose which makes him a very poor foil to the sympathetic jewel thieves.
Do we want this kid, the son of a cop, to be more cop than his father? Do we appreciate his detective-like qualities, and all his not credible luck in bringing down his adult antagonists? No matter how many bad traits the plot throws at the thieves, none of them really stick. What does hold, unfortunately, is the boy's rather sniveling, boy-scout alignment with both the jewelers and the police.