Duffy

Two brothers hire a hip thief (James Coburn) to help them rob their father’s (James Mason) bank of a fortune being transported by sea.

Duffy is something of an in-spirit sequel to Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, in that it’s another hip, wry-comedy heist film.

Though it stars both James Coburn and James Mason, the two only share a small amount of screen time, which is a shame. Though Mason more than carries the film until Coburn makes his appearance, a little more screen time for him wouldn’t have been a bad thing, especially considering how well their final scenes play.

That said, once Coburn does show up, things groove along at a nice pace, peppered by Susannah York’s eye candy, and culminating with a well shot, and well-edited robbery sequence that still manages to segue well with the film’s laid-back tone.

Duffy also boasts some excellent location photography and a nice soundtrack, all adding to the chill atmosphere that permeates the entire film. It’s a heist with style, not drama. While some will no doubt be put off by this, others will enjoy it, and if you’re on the fence, you could do worse than give it a shot.