User Reviews

W. C. Fields always said never share the screen with children or dogs. They'll steal the film every time. I've said this before, but he also forgot cute and feisty old people, especially if they don't even reach 5 feet. They'll come off much bigger than the actual stars. That's the case in this amusing TV movie, a rarity now, so I'll take what I can get to experience them at least once. Lauren Bacall and Sandy Dennis were more well known than the shared third leading lady, Lisa Pelikan, but it's the supporting scene stealer, like Dennis an Oscar winner, Ruth Gordon, getting second billing who walks off with the film.

The film opens with strangers Bacall, Dennis and Pelikan sharing an elevator, and when the young male operator makes a friendly comment, Pelikan begins to cry, to which Bacall pulls out a pistol and orders the stunned operator to apologize. No shrinking violet this one. Soon they're plotting together to rob a bank safe (where Pelikan works) and they are joined by Gordon, Pelikan's mother. Too bad Bette Davis didn't join them as her hippie bank robber, Bunny O'Hara!

Not the type of comedy that gets belly laughs, I did find myself smirking throughout at the audacity of the story with the older women in male drag, resembling the old men from "Going in Style", which came out the following year. It's obvious that there's a tape recorder being played as they commit the robbery, but it's all played for light humor where nothing goes as planned. The other women, even Bacall (who's as imperious as ever), seem to be willingly handing this over to Gordon who didn't need to be a witch or seducing much younger men or being kissed by orangutans to get laughs. She does it naturally. A fun movie of the week, worth hunting down no matter the quality of the print.