Hustle (1975 film)

Hustle
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Robert Aldrich
Produced by Robert Aldrich
Written by Steve Shagan
Starring Burt Reynolds
Catherine Deneuve
Music by Frank De Vol
Cinematography Joseph Biroc
Edited by Michael Luciano
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
 December 25, 1975 (1975-12-25)
Running time
 120 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3.05 million[1]
Box office $10,390,000 (rentals)[2][3]
217,313 admissions (France)[4]

Hustle is a 1975 American neo-noir crime film directed by Robert Aldrich, and stars Burt Reynolds and Catherine Deneuve.[5]

Plot

A group of field trip students and a teacher discover a woman's dead body at the beach. Two Los Angeles Police Department detectives, Phil Gaines and Louis Belgrave, are assigned to the homicide investigation. The case appears to be a suicide but things do not add up. The deceased, Gloria Hollinger, overdosed, yet the trail leads back to Leo Sellers, a wealthy and corrupt attorney. Gaines and Belgrave do not believe Gloria's death to be suicide based on information from Gaines' girlfriend, Nicole, a call girl. But they cannot close the case. Along the way, the detectives learn that Marty, Gloria's father and a headstrong veteran of the Korean War, did not believe the official report either and attempts to solve the case himself. He goes after Sellers and learns that Sellers was responsible for his daughter's death. Gaines and Belgrave track Marty to Sellers' mansion where they find Marty has just killed Sellers. Gaines stages it to look like self-defense, letting Marty off the hook for the crime. Gaines calls Nicole to reconcile, and they plan a trip to San Francisco. On his way to the airport, he stops in a convenience store and walks into the middle of an armed robbery. He trades fire with the assailant but is killed in the exchange. Belgrave goes to the airport terminal to inform Nicole, and without a word, she realizes that Gaines is gone.

Cast

Production

Robert Aldrich said Burt Reynolds brought him the script while they were filming Longest Yard together.

Aldrich said he would do the film if they could get Catherine Deneuve for the female lead, even though the part had been written for a woman. "I didn't think it worked that way," said Aldrich. "I think our middleclass mores just don't make it credible that a policeman have a love relationship with a prostitute. Because of some strange quirk in our backgrounds, the mass audience doesn't believe it. It's perfectly all right as long as she's not American. So Burt accepted this as a condition, and we put up our money and went to Paris, and waited on the great lady for a week, and she agreed to do the picture. "[6]

Aldrich and Reynolds formed their own company to make the film, called Roburt. The original title was City of Angels.[7] The title was then changed to Home Free.[8]

Robert Aldrich later said he did not think Reynolds was as good in the film as he was in The Longest Yard.[6]

Reception

The film was a commercial success. Produced on a budget of $3.05 million,[1] it earned $10,390,000 in US theatrical rentals.[2][3] Reynolds said: "I think it was a good film," "At least it was a love story, which I hadn't done in a long time. Catherine Deneuve and I were a case of one plus one makes three so that brought about some interest."[9] The film received 67% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Alain Silver and James Ursini, Whatever Happened to Robert Aldrich?, Limelight, 1995 p 296
  2. 1 2 Alain Silver and James Ursini, Whatever Happened to Robert Aldrich?, Limelight, 1995 p 39.
  3. 1 2 Top 20 Films of 1975 by Domestic Revenue. Box Office Report via Internet Archive. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  4. ↑ French box office results for Robert Aldrich films at Box Office Story
  5. ↑ "BFI : Film & TV Database : Hustle". BFI. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  6. 1 2 "I CAN'T GET JIMMY CARTER TO SEE MY MOVIE!" Aldrich, Robert. Film Comment; New York Vol. 13, Iss. 2, (Mar/Apr 1977): 46-52.
  7. ↑ Hellman Story to Be Filmed Murphy, Mary. Los Angeles Times 13 July 1974: a6.
  8. ↑ Oil Crisis Comedy Planned Scheuer, Lucie. Los Angeles Times 29 Nov 1974: g25.
  9. ↑ Workaholic Burt Reynolds sets up his next task: Light comedy Siskel, Gene. Chicago Tribune (1963–Current file) [Chicago, Ill] 28 Nov 1976: e2.
  10. ↑ "Hustle (1975)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
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