There are three movies I’d liek to find. Each of them I’ve seen a long time ago. I sort of generally remember the plot, but not who was in them or (obviously) the titles.
So I turn to you. Can you help?
Two big city (New York?) policemen try to strike it rich. They scam the Mafia by stealing something and selling it to them… I remember they got rid of the evidence by shredding it and dumping it out the window during a parade.
Older movie (B&W) about a millionaire who gets a job incognito in his own department store as a lowly clerk for some reason. Dual love story; he’s responsible for two of the clerks getting together and he meets an older woman he’s interested in.
Comedy… man has a small shop in some South American dictatorship. He agrees to work for the CIA and pass on information, but nothing happens, so he makes things up. He has a daughter who gets involved somehow.
I apologize for this less-than-detailed recollection, but if I had details… why, then, I wouldn’t need to ask the question, would I? Search engines are great, but not for questions like these.
I think the second movie may be ‘Sweepings,’ with either Lionel Barrymore or George Arliss (I know, not much difference). I’ll check tonight and let you know.
I know Sweepings - it is with Lionel Barrymore and a department store, but I don’t think there’s any deal where he’s incognito. In any event, I know that isn’t the one I’m thinking of… thanks, though! Good movie!
As to Money Train - nope. Not even close. In Money Train Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes rob actual cash from the NYC Transit system. There’s no shredding or parade involved. In the movie I’m thinking of, the key element is that the Mafia think that a robbery happened, so the cops steal documents and shred them… if that makes any sense.
tanstaafl, “The Devil and Miss Jones” may indeed be the one he was thinking of—but it was made earlier, too, in '30 or '31. For some reason, Messrs. Barrymore and Arliss stick in my mind, I’ll look it up tonight.
…And your third movie is OUR MAN IN HAVANA, directed by Carol Reed in 1960, and starring Alec Guinness, Burl Ives, Maureen O’Hara, Noel Coward, Ralph Richardson, and Ernie Kovacs.
I posted this question at 3:02 PM, by the board’s clock.
All three movies were identified by 3:47 PM.
Just for comparison’s sake, I had been trying to identify Devil and Miss Jones for about six years. (Admittedly, I wasn’t trying full-time or anything, but still.)
You guys rock. Very impressive.
Now… I knew abou the IMDB, but I guess I never tried searching the plots database. I was amazed that Ukelele Ike came up with Our Man in Havana, especially because I was so off base – Havana is not, after all, in South America…
Tell me you knew this because you saw the movie… becuase if there’s a database that can compensate for my stupidity, I must have it! I could rule the world!!
Amazon.com has both Devil and Cops & Robbers in stock… they’re on their way to me even as we speak.
However… Our Man in Havana is a little more elusive. I can’t find it on any on-line sales source. Nor does it appear to be airing on any of the standard cable channels (at least, not those here in Northern Virginia).
Depending on where you live, you might also check your local public library, and see if you can get it from inter-library loan. IIRC, Our Man in Havana is based on novel (or screenplay?) by Graham Greene, in addition to a fantastic cast, so it’s not improbable that the library system could get it.
OK, I was sorta right and sorta wrong. The movie I was thinking of was “The Working Man” (1933), in which George Arliss plays an industrialist who retires, then takes a factory job at his rival’s company. He also plays cupid—I think “The Devil and Miss Jones” was probably a very loose remake.
Aw, shucks, Brick. It’s just that the movie (and the Greene novel) are old favorites of mine.
(I knew COPS AND ROBBERS, too, but was beaten to the punch. It was based on an early-1970s of Donald E. Westlake’s.)
The OUR MAN IN HAVANA video IS difficult to find (I taped my copy off NYC commercial TV several years back). If you’re coming up blank in the usual on-line markets, you might try giving Kim’s Video in NYC a call…they have a lot of oddball, hard-to-find material. (I just bought a copy there of Roman Polanski’s ultra-hard-to-find 1973 movie WHAT?..for twenty bucks!)
Depending on where you are in the country, of course. I’m sure that L.A., San Francisco, Chicago, etc., have places similar to Kim’s. Matter of fact, I think Chicago’s home to Facets Video.
The novel, “Our Man in Havana”, is in print. The movie was very faithful to the novel, so you should enjoy the book. By the way, Wormold worked for British Intelligence, not the CIA.