The Split

This is taken from the book The Seventh, one of the twenty terrific novels about the one-named thief named Parker, written by “Richard Stark,” a pseudonym for Donald E. Westlake. I’m sorry to say there is very little here that’s terrific. They changed Parker’s name to McClain, and cast Jim Brown to play him. Making Parker black poses no problem for me. What I hate is Brown’s lack of talent. As an actor he is a real good football player. There are some good actors here, such as Warren Oates and Gene Hackman, but the whole cast overacts outrageously. As I recall it (it’s been a long time since I read the book) the heist was at a racetrack, and here it’s been re-located to a big college football game. Again, no problem, and the heist itself is about the only thing worth seeing. The rest of it is really silly stuff and macho posturing. Parker fans, skip this one.