The Score

A good heist movie this is. The man behind Yoda himself, Frank Oz, uses his Jedi ways behind the camera to direct two of the Godfathers, a priest in love and a rock 'n' roll diva in this crime caper with heavyweight actors and a traditional plot that works. A disheveled Marlon Brando plays Max, a bigwig of the black market who unites two safecracking masterminds to steal a 17th century royal scepter now heavily guarded in Montreal's Customs House. Although Nick (Robert DeNiro) has a legitimate jazz club to maintain and a neglected fiancée (Angela Bassett) to please, the longtime thief signs on for this one final payoff before retirement with the help of a loose cannon (Edward Norton) who poses as a mentally retarded janitor in order to case the target from the inside. Together the two use their 007 gizmos with the moves to match for an enticing thrill that scores, even though it plays by the book.