Bandits (2001)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by  Harley Peyton
Directed by Barry Levinson
Starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Troy Garity

Features:

• Alternate Ending
• Deleted Scenes
• "Creating Scene 71" Featurette
• "Making-of-Bandits" Featurette
  

Anamorphic: Yes.

My Advice: Own It.

Joe Blake (Willis) is tired of being in prison.  Terry Collins (Thornton) is dying...any minute now. So they use a cement truck to escape from the Oregon State Prison.  Joe has dreams of starting a resort hotel down in Mexico, but he doesn't have the money.  Terry has the perfect solution.  They decide the most efficient way to rob banks is to spend the night with the bank manager and then walk right into the bank the next morning complete with security codes and a completely controlled environment.  It works great until they start gaining notoriety as the "Sleepover Bandits." 

What can I say, this movie works well.  The story is intriguing and, incredibly enough, based loosely on a true story!  The writing is very clever and witty.  The characters, though bizarre and very much larger than life, work within the world that is created.  I would say that if the movie has a weak spot,  it would the editing.  It just feels jumpy at times.  The story is told in a non-linear fashion, which adds to the difficulty for the editor, but the transitions between scenes could have been handled a little more smoothly. 

The DVD's features are pretty cool, also.  The alternate ending is a very subtle difference, but it changes the story completely.  As usual, the deleted scenes are there to allow you to say, "Okay, I can see why they deleted that."  The "Making-of-Bandits" Featurette is your typical 20-or-so minute long mini-documentary about the filmmaker and the cast with minimal highlights on the story.  It is in sharp contrast to the "Creating Scene 71" Featurette.  This is a 30 minute long documentary about one particular scene and how the finished product looked nothing like the scene on the page simply because the director trusted his actors to get to the end of a scene without really caring what happens on the journey.  The result is one of the most memorable scenes in the movie.  My gripe with this DVD is the lack of the commentary track.  It wouldn't even have to a director's commentary, an cast and/or crew commentary would be just fine.  Alas...

My advice is to own this DVD.  The movie alone is worth having on your shelf, but the special features--even without the commentary--make it that much sweeter.