Rob Astyk I caught this movie on television after not having seen it in 40 years. I ran it for 2 weeks while working as a projectionist in a second run house in Connecticut at the time. First, you have a wonderful cast. Not only the four principles but it's hard to imagine a bad movie with Charles Durning, Jack Guilford, Val Avery, Leslie Ann Warren and Burt Young in the supporting cast. As improbable as the script is everyone seems to be having fun. We are in the realm of the classic door-slamming bedroom farce comedies mated to the caper movie with a couple of lovable losers involved in machinations they cannot hope to understand. Consider it as a double bill with Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks. Michael Caine gets to hone a role as comic villain that will find its fuller expression In Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels. Basically, Harry and Walter is good, silly fun. If you want a great caper movie, Watch The Sting or Topkapi. If you want something that will occasionally have you spitting popcorn while laughing, try this movie, sit back and enjoy yourself. just remember,Nobody's perfect. Nobody at all.

cormac_zoso Honestly, if you can't get your heart behind Harry and Walter, two of the most inept and schlock-sloppy vaudevillians in movie history, I must assume you quite simply do not have a heart. These two sad-sacks are (dis)honestly delightful as they go from their opening song-and-dance routine (one hopes they were able to steal the routine or cobble it together from slices of other performers' routines since if they actually paid for a tune-smith to 'craft' this routine it would have to be, contrary to the film's felonious finale, the greatest rip-off in this film) to a race to out-heist the greatest and grandest of New York's elite safe crackers, quite perfectly played by Michael Caine using his deep store of calm aplomb and a style and grace that does not rub of on Harry or Walter despite their close proximity to the fastidiously-fashioned felon when they are assigned as his immured chamberlains, a position they are even less suited for than vaudeville.There are some fine twists and turns and changes of heart along the way in what is said to have been the leftover sets from "Hello, Dolly" ... and it shows. Very classy, upscale late 19th century street scenes combined with the less savory back alley action where the starring duo work to save a worthy cause while half the duo is just not putting in the old-college try in turning over a new leaf. However, you will find the ups-and-downs and twists-and-turns lots of fun and despite the fact that this film nearly bankrupt Columbia Pictures (how this was possible I am not certain but considering the director claims that the studio saw the solution to the 'film's problems' as well as the studio's financial woes as leaving the funniest part of the films on the cutting room floor ... what sense this makes is beyond me but when film studios get in trouble, "Heaven's Gate" would be another fine example, it is the film that is attacked with artless, ham-fisted verve in the cutting room as it seems to be the traditional way in which to "save a studio" ... anyone who has seen the uncut version of "Heaven's Gate" will testify that it is not, as it is commonly known, the 'worst film in Hollywood history' but rather perhaps the finest film of the western genre ever made ... certainly the finest of the genre as it was drawing its final breathes in the wilds of Montana rather than the Warner Brothers ranch or Monument Valley National Park where so many were shot.So whilst I have typically careened off on a jaunt thru an unfamiliar ditch, I highly recommend "Harry and Walter Go to New York" as a film for the entire family.

jpappas-2 This is just a good, clean, fun movie with an excellent cast. It was shot back in the 1970's. It is amazing that the movie did not do better at the box office, because of all the stars that were cast in it. It is interesting to note that this movie was shot mostly in Mansfield, Ohio at the Mansfield Reformatory. Since then, Shawshank Redemption and Con Air were filmed there as well. The prison used for the movie has since been replaced by a new one and is now an historical site, open to the public. I think you will find some good laughs here. It is not brain surgery and a great way to experience some top stars in one package. I was an extra in this movie, playing both a prison guard and a prisoner. Chasing James Caan and Elliot Gould was a hoot. The cast and crew of this movie had a great time filming it. I might add that the director, Mark Rydell, went on to direct the movie,On Golden Pond.

obe-one This is one of my all-time favorite James Caan movies. Its not laugh out loud funny but has many humorous moments. No sex or profanity so if thats what you like in a comedy, leave this one alone. Otherwise, be entertained for 90 min. James Caan and Elliot Gould have such good chemistry together I'm surprised they haven't worked together since.