Product Description

Superstars Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn both took on the mantle of Robin Hood as they set out to fleece the criminally over-privileged (drug dealers, racketeers, gamblers, etc.) of $1 million from a safe-deposit vault in Hamburg. He's a security expert, she's a hooker. Together they made a dynamite combination at the box-office.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33149 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-09-23
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.com
Goldie Hawn, freshly launched into stardom via TV's Laugh-In gives a bubbly but nuanced performance in one of her first feature-film roles, $ (also known as Dollars). She and costar Warren Beatty look so darn cute together (as they would again later in Shampoo), and have such terrific onscreen chemistry, that we forgive the writers for needlessly making Hawn's character a hooker. Still, to borrow from Working Girl, Hawn's Dawn Divine has a bod for sin--but also, it turns out, a mind for business, at least the kind of business that Beatty's tousled, charming criminal, Joe Collins, has in mind. The film is set on location in Frankfort and Bavaria, Germany, and Scandinavia, and the glorious feel of Europe in the early '70s is here in all its splendor--and grit. Collins' crime is a devilish international bank heist, complicated by language, communists, the Cold War, and next to no technology. It's a sort of a no-frills Oceans Eleven, without the 11 sidekicks.

$ can't quite decide if it's a farce or drama, but there's no question about its action chops; its chase scene is long and intense, and shot crisply and suspensefully by cinematographer Petrus R. Schlömp. The music is by Quincy Jones and is appropriately hip and rich, and Little Richard(!) sings the theme song, "Money Is…" But the reason to watch this film is to see the great chemistry between Hawn, at the beginning of her film craft, and Beatty, nearing his own peak. And to see a snapshot of the Western world circa 1970--which is truly priceless. Extras include some mini vignettes by Sony Home Entertainment about its "Martini Movies" series, including sly definitions of what makes a leading man ("he never lets the audience see him sweat"), how to pull off a heist, and, helpfully, several martini recipes. --A.T. Hurley

Customer Reviews

Technically, It's Very Precise
Aside from the killer soundtrack, Quincy Jones during his salad days(Is that Jean Luc Ponty playing the fiddle on ORANGEBLOSSOM EXPRESS?), I like this film because there is camera motion in nearly every shot. I doubt that the director, Richard Brooks, used storyboards to make this film. There's a scene in the first half where a police car zooms underneath an overpass just as the trailing coaches of two commuter trains break overhead. I wonder how Brooks set up that fantastic shot?! The chase which occupies the last 30 minutes is almost wholly on foot. This film has great performances by the supporting actors. Gert Frobe is comically bungling as the bank's manager. Arthur Brauss is menacing as the raspy voiced drug smuggler with rear-view mirrors in his shades, "the Candyman." And Scott Brady has a great turn as a corrupt army NCO. He gets my vote for best movie death scene; "From one ounce they will make three hundred thousand capsules of L.S.D...." Look for the scene where Robert Webber pays Goldie Hawn, the film's "hooker with a heart of gold," to "put out his fire." I'm surprised this scene got past the censors!

Superb thriller!
I saw this movie on television in the beginning of the 80's. I thought it was great fun then and when I bought the video last year I found it to be even better. Warren Beatty does a great job and so does the other actors. Quincy Jones great score adds to the suspense. My favorite scene is the chase on the ice. A wonderful movie that deserves more attention and respect.

On the money
Filmed on location in Hamburg and other northern Europe settings around 1970, Dollars has a great look to it, the story is tight and plausible and the casting is great. The opening is a little confusing as the interweaving storyline is set in motion but it all comes together beautifully a third of the way into the action. There is so much going on in Dollars that multiple viewings will be rewarded, and the soundtrack is one of the best I've heard, especially if you like jazz, and is well matched to the action. Watching these veteran actors do their thing is a treat, so much more substantial than the lightweight junk being put out today. I can't believe this flick is so unknown.

and that one scene with Goldie Hawn, as someone said, how did that get past the censor!? Hilarious.