You might find yourself moving closer and closer to the edge of your seat as this film's suspenseful climax slowly approaches. I think Director Frank Oz does a good job of gradually building the suspense as the movie progresses.
Edward Norton, who has a "double" role (of sorts) in the movie, also gives a knockout performance. I found it worthwhile to replay several of Norton's hilarious scenes while he was in character as the half-witted janitor's helper.
And I really liked Marlon Brando in this film. The then-76-year-old Brando, who portrays the slightly-quirky "Max", isn't too "heavy-handed" here; and comes through with a couple of knee-slapping lines of dialogue to boot during his brief amount of screen time.
The DVD of "The Score" offers up mighty fine video and audio quality. The 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen picture looks just about perfect to my eyes.
Extra Features include a "Making The Score" featurette (which lasts 12:25). This is a fairly standard Making-Of program (but still nice to have on the disc), with a few behind-the-camera glimpses of the actors at work.
There are also three pieces of "Additional Footage" (total run time for these segments amounts to 7:58). The first one is extremely intriguing. It's a completely uncut, uninterrupted piece of film (5:05 in length) featuring Robert DeNiro and Marlon Brando discussing the heist and DeNiro's price for pulling off the job. We see three versions of this scene within this one single unbroken strip of film -- each of which is slightly different from the others, with these two great acting legends improvising a lot of the dialogue along the way. And each one of these differing "takes" is perfect. They never blow a word in any of the versions. The first version shown is the one that ended up in the final film; but the other two are just about as good (with Brando's rather racy remark in the last take being laugh-out-loud funny).
The other two items listed under "Additional Footage" are alternate takes from two scenes in the film.
Other DVD bonus materials include a Director's Commentary Track and the Theatrical Trailer.
"The Score" boasts of three generations of acting talent coming together on the same movie -- a movie whose cast and story are both equally up to the task of entertaining anyone who pops in this DVD.
Director: Robert De Niro, Frank OzFormat: ColorStudio: Paramount Home Video Video Release Date: May 7, 2002
Cast:
Robert De Niro ... Nick Wells Edward Norton ... Jack Teller Marlon Brando ... Max Angela Bassett ... Diane Gary Farmer ... Burt Paul Soles ... Danny Jamie Harrold ... Steven Serge Houde ... Laurent Jean-René Ouellet ... André Martin Drainville ... Jean-Claude Claude Despins ... Albert Richard Waugh ... Sapperstein Mark Camacho ... Eric (Sapperstein's Cousin) Christina Colburn ... Woman in Study Gavin Svensson ... Man in Study Thinh Truong Nguyen ... Tuan Carlos Essagian ... Cop Christian Tessier ... Drunk Lenie Scoffié ... Storekeeper Bobby Brown ... Tony Maurice Demers ... Philippe Christian Jacques ... Guard Henry Farmer ... Guard Dacky Thermidor ... Guard Gerard Blouin ... Guard Charles V. Doucet ... Old Engineer Pierre Drolet ... Worker Norman Mikeal Berketa ... Bureaucrat Official Eric Hoziel ... Ironclad Tech John Talbot ... Janitor Richard Zeman ... Thug Nick Carasoulis ... Thug Cassandra Wilson ... Special Appearance Mose Allison ... Special Appearance Bill Haughland ... Newscaster David L. McCallum ... Rich Man Andrew W. Walker ... Jeff
An old pro jewel thief, Nick Wells (Robert De Niro) is talked into one last heist by Max (Marlon Brando) for a centuries old scepter worth millions. Max has him set up to partner with a volatile inside man, Jack Teller (Edward Norton) who works at Canadian Customs as a disabled assistant janitor, where the sceptre is securely stored and guarded. Nick wants to pay off his jazz club and marry Diane (Angela Bassett). She wants him to quit his criminal pursuits as a condition.
Teller tries to make a double-cross, things go wrong, and that's what the story is about. It is a good thriller, directed by De Niro and Frank Oz, who do a commendable job.
Altogether, a well acted, well directed story that is entirely entertaining.
Joseph (Joe) Pierreauthor of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenanceand other books
