In the 1930s, two inveterate fraudsters try to take revenge on the mafia leader for the death of their mutual friend with the help of one of the most unexpected scams in the history of cinema, which also ends in an amazing and funny way.

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The classic Hollywood film by George Roy Hill with its entire existence confirms the axiomatic assertion that the best adventure crime comedies about the thirties were created in the seventies and eighties. It was then that genre diamonds such as the Italian “Bluff”, the Polish “Va-bank” and the American “Scam” appeared. The last of these three, but perhaps the first largest picture deserved recognition and will be discussed.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, as it turned out, did not get lost in the Bolivian open spaces and four years later returned to us with new names, but still familiar faces of Redford (Johnny Hooker) and Newman (Henry Gondorf). Not many of the many creative unions of the director and actors can boast of such a successful doublet. Speaking without frills, George Roy Hill in 69 and 73 created two genre masterpieces, first throwing the heroes of Newman and Redford, romanticized bandits, from the Wild West to South America, and then allowing their equally romanticized swindlers to pull off a brilliant business in America Capone, bootlegging and tommigans.

Stylized under the production of seven acts, a story of revenge and big profit that does not dissonant with the name flies before the viewer for the reference two hours of timekeeping, when two inveterate, but infinitely cute fraudsters join their efforts against the bandit Doyle Lonnegan. The harsh realities of the thirties force our heroes, forgetting about the principle of “eye for an eye”, to take revenge for the death of a common friend in the only possible way – by trying to punish the murderer with a dollar.

What is the secret of the success among critics and the audience’s popularity of this film, which received three most important and four technical Oscars, as well as thirty times hitting its budget, films? Without the slightest efforts and exaggeration, it would have been possible, with the idea to stylize the enumeration of the picture’s advantages, to adjust certain advantages under the name of each part of the film. In giving this thought to future generations, let us dwell on the most important thing, on what makes “Scam” so uniquely special.

Without spreading our thoughts along the tree, we will call the Actors, Script and Atmosphere the three whales of the film. This, in fact, is all. You can finish the review and go home. Nevertheless, those who want to hear the same, but in a slightly more detailed review, can stay.

Together with a pair of damn charming rogue protagonists, playing the blackest soul of all the characters, Robert “Shark Storm” Shaw makes up the main acting trio of “Scam”, an indisputable element of the film’s success. The former set a cunning trap for the latter, the deadly hero of Shaw, step by step, approaches the place of the “hunt.” This, it seems, is serious – there was blood and death – and at the same time, presented in a rather light and carefree manner, the confrontation is precisely the standard prescribed and played out cinematic conflict. And thanks to the talented direction and the work of all professionals without exception (from costume designers and decorators to the author of an unforgettable musical theme), the authentically recreated atmosphere of the thirties becomes the decisive stretch of the road to the audience’s hearts.

But most importantly, thanks to films like “Scam”, such legendary movie stars as Paul Newman and Robert Redford will forever remain in our hearts young, beautiful and insanely talented.

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (74.2 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
French: DTS 2.0 Mono
Portuguese: DTS 2.0 Mono
Russian: DTS 2.0 Mono
Czech: DTS 5.1
Hungarian: DTS 5.1
Polish: DTS 5.1

Subtitles
English SDH, French, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Portuguese, Russian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Hindi, Greek.