# Help with Ebert reference about Donald Sutherland movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-ebert-reference-about-donald-sutherland-movie/178622 "2003-05-30T20:51:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-ebert-reference-about-donald-sutherland-movie/178622/1 "2003-05-30T20:51:47Z")
In Ebert’s current review of [The Italian Job](http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-italian30f.html), he says the following: > [@](#): > > The safe is stolen by a gang led by Donald Sutherland, who must be relieved to note that Venice has no dwarfs in red raincoats this season. To what movie is he referring? It seems vaguely familiar to me, but scanning all Donald Sutherland’s movies from IMDb, nothing lept out at me, and there’s way too many anyway. I also tried power searching for cast = Sutherland and location = Venice, but that didn’t turn up anything - I guess they didn’t film on location. No hits on cast = Sutherland and plot contains “dwarf” either. Does this ring a bell for anyone? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-ebert-reference-about-donald-sutherland-movie/178622/2 "2003-05-30T21:04:47Z")
Actually, quite a famous (or infamous) movie: [Don’t Look Now](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0069995) ---
**Author:** ![Fish42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@Fish42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish42)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-ebert-reference-about-donald-sutherland-movie/178622/3 "2003-05-30T21:05:44Z")
It’s a reference to “Don’t Look Now” (1973) ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-ebert-reference-about-donald-sutherland-movie/178622/4 "2003-05-30T21:20:23Z")
Whoops, didn’t realize the link would make the Spoiler slightly visible. Sorry about the repetitive title. To further explain the reference: The daughter of Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie dies early in the film. She is wearing a red raincoat. Much later, Sutherland is restoring a church in Venice and continues to see a small figure in a red raincoat running along the canals. He becomes obsessed with the figure, pursuing it on several occasions, thinking it may be his daughter returned from the dead somehow (he’s also been having strange dreams, and some psychics also fuel the fire). One night, he finally catches the figure, only to discover it’s not his daughter–it’s a hideous, homicidal dwarf who stabs him to death. Quite a shocking ending… …which is why I put the title in Spoilers. It sounds hokey describing it, but it’s actually quite a powerful (both creepy & moving) film. Nic Roeg (_Walkabout, The Man Who Fell to Earth_) directed. The film is also infamous because of a sex scene between Sutherland & Christie, which was so realistic that many people thought they actually did the deed. Oh, and doing a power search for Sutherland & Venice yielded both _DLN_ & _TIJ_ when I tried it… ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-ebert-reference-about-donald-sutherland-movie/178622/5 "2003-05-30T21:25:20Z")
Nine minutes. [Vader] Immmmpressive! _Most_ impressive! [/Vader] I remember now. I have seen this movie, many years ago. For the reason you think I did. 😃 Can you tell me how specifically you did the power search? I’m still getting 0 matches when I search Cast = Sutherland and Location = Venice. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-ebert-reference-about-donald-sutherland-movie/178622/6 "2003-05-30T22:25:35Z")
Well, I put in “Donald Sutherland”, not just “Sutherland”. When I put in just the surname, I got the same response you did. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-ebert-reference-about-donald-sutherland-movie/178622/7 "2003-05-30T22:45:39Z")
D’OH!!! ---
**Author:** ![Realhoops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8dc957/32.png) [@Realhoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Realhoops)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-ebert-reference-about-donald-sutherland-movie/178622/8 "2003-06-01T02:27:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ArchiveGuy \* > \*\*Well, I put in “Donald Sutherland”, not just “Sutherland”. When I put in just the surname, I got the same response you did. \*\* … this matters not at all, but I’m curious if there’s a reason it turns up _more_ results if you’re trying to find “Donald Sutherland” than if you’re just trying to find “Sutherland”? Shouldn’t everything that comes up with “Donald Sutherland” also come up with “Sutherland” by itself? Just curious.