Finders Keepers

Based on the book Next-to-Last Train Ride by Charles Dennis, this was the first and only picture by the married producing team Terence and Sandra Marsh. Terence March came from the world of British art direction, working as assistant art director for John Box on such iconic pictures as Lawrence of Arabia and crossing into the production designer chair for films like the Albert Finney musical Scrooge and Richard Attenborough's epic war picture A Bridge Too Far (both of which he was BAFTA nominated for). Finders Keepers is the only movie he and his wife Sandra produced. They adapted the script with novelist Charles Dennis and frequent Mel Brooks collaborator Ronny Graham, put together a terrific cast, and brought on director Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night, Help, The Knack ...and How to Get It, and Superman II) to helm the picture. Unfortunately, their studio, Warner Brothers, apparently only wanted to make the film if it starred the then outrageously omnipresent Dudley Moore, who had been the hottest comedy film star since his breakout in Blake Edwards' 10. I don't want to knock Moore; he was a terrific comic actor, but after coming to international prominence in 1979, filmmakers seemed to shoehorn him into so many bad comedies. The Marshes and Lester saw their film as an ensemble piece, not a Dudley Moore star vehicle, and opted to stick with their vision, make the picture for far less money, and relocate production to Alberta, Canada. They made the movie under the auspices of CBS Theatrical Films, with Warners only handling the American distribution.

I have no idea if the issues with this film are budgetary or if it's just that every Richard Lester film post-A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a lumbering creature where even the lightest comedic moments feel labored. I've always thought this guy was a sloppy director who rode on the coattails of his early success. I think the auteur theory convinced everyone that the guy who made The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers and A Hard Day's Night and Help! with The Beatles must be a comic genius, discounting the fact that it might have been his collaborators that made those films shine. The Four Musketeers, Royal Flash, Superman III, and certainly Finders Keepers have such poorly timed pratfalls, sight gags, and banter they make you wish you were watching even the most sub-par Blake Edwards picture.

Still, this movie does a fun cast: Michael O'Keefe (Caddyshack, The Great Santini), Beverly D'Angelo (Hair, Coal Miner's Daughter, National Lampoon's Vacation), Brian Dennehy (10, First Blood, Never Cry Wolf), Ed Lauter (Hickey & Boggs, French Connection II, Cujo), Pamela Stephenson (Not the Nine O'Clock News, History of the World: Part 1, Superman III), John Schuck (MASH, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Thieves Like Us), and, of course, the great Louis Gossett Jr. (The Landlord, Skin Game, The Deep). The film also features one of young Jim Carry's first speaking roles. The story centers on a scam artist (O'Keefe) being chased by both the police and a female roller derby team, who pretends to be a soldier bringing home a dead Vietnam buddy. In reality, the coffin is full of money stolen by a couple (Lauter and Stephenson). In over his head, he calls in a more experienced con man (Gossett) after teaming up with a goofy actress (D'Angelo). It helps that this film gets better as it goes along, with the injection of Gossett and Dennehy in the second half providing some class and some humor. But, even with this cast and even with its reduced budget, this film was (and is) a bomb. The Marshes may not have gone on to produce more movies, but Terence continued on as production designer for such notably great-looking movies as Havana, Basic Instinct, The Hunt for Red October, and The Shawshank Redemption.