Finders Keepers

I love the films of Richard Lester. Not only did he bring The Beatles to the big screen with A Hard Day's Night and Help! He also helmed two memorable Superman movies, 2 and 4, and directed the best Three Musketeers movies. And even though he is American, no other director captured the swinging 60's scene in London like he did with films like The Knack, And How To Get It. One of my favorites of his however is one that is sadly overlooked, 1984's Finders Keepers.

This one was elusive to me for the longest time. I remember seeing the ads for it when it came out and thinking it looked like a riot. Sadly, it never came to a theater close to me. The video stores in my area didn't carry it, and I grew up without cable. It was probably five years later when I finally saw it after borrowing it from someone who recorded it off of The Movie Channel. It was well worth the wait. Roughly thirty years later I had the chance to revisit it. For some reason, it was never released on dvd, but thanks to Kino Lorber, there is a blu ray.

A heiress, Pamela Stephenson, fakes her kidnapping with the help of her thieving boyfriend, Ed Lauter, and the two rob her dad of five million dollars. They hide the loot in a casketon a train bound for New York. Meanwhile, a con artist, Michael O'Keefe, on the run from the law and an angry roller derby team, masquerades as a soldier to elude those pursuing him. He see's the casket and pretends to be transporting it home for the funeral. On the train, he falls for a wacky actress, Beverly D'Angelo, and when the two discover that the casket is full of cash, the con man turns to a father figure, Louis Gossett, Jr., who himself is a master con man, for advice.

This is very much a screwball comedy, something that Lester masters in. And it's a terrific one at that. Lester has assembled a great cast. Even though he was first noticed in heavier roles like The Great Santani and Split Image, I've always felt that O'Keefe really shined in comedic roles. Caddyshack, The Whoopee Boys, and this one really show off his comedy chops. And even though she is best known in the comedy world as Chevy Chase's long suffering wife in the Vacation movies, D'Angelo is at her best when she gets to cut loose and be a little daffy like in this role. And what can I say about Gossett other than he is just super cool in everything. Jim Carrey even pops up in one of his earliest roles.

Finders Keepers offers a lot of laughs and is one of the best from the Richard Lester cannon.