Watch The Score For Free

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Angela Bassett, and Marlon Brando star in "The Score" from 2001.De Niro is Nick Wells, a successful Montreal club owner who actually is a master crook. However, he's ready to retire and settle down with his girlfriend, flight attendant Diane (Angela Bassett). An associate, Max (Marlon Brando) prevails upon him to do one last deal - steal a valuable scepter from the Montreal Customs House. He refuses, but finally agrees for larger than his usual take.The inside man is Jack (Norton), an assistant janitor who on the job pretends to be mentally challenged. He manages to get Nick everything he needs to do the theft -- codes, kind of safe, everything. They carefully plan it.But you know how things are.Though the script is derivative in parts, Frank Oz directs with a briskness that keeps it moving. And he has a first-rate cast. The last part of the film is white-knuckle suspenseful. De Niro is very good, but he really has the least flashy role. That belongs to Norton, who does an excellent job as Danny. Marlon Brando looks like Rod Steiger in this and has trouble breathing with the slightest exertion - I really don't think that was the character, it was Brando. He created an interesting character, but it's sad to see him in a small role and in such bad condition. I interviewed Rod Steiger and asked him about the big scene in "Waterfront" when Brando didn't show up and Steiger had to do his scene without him. Steiger told me that it didn't matter anymore, that Brando had suffered so much, he could only feel sorry for him. Well, you can see this film and feel sorry for him too.

In what was widely considered to be a passing of the torch, three generations of Hollywood superstars, joined forces for a thriller known as The Score. I found this to be a very strange film, as it features both moments of high intensity and moments that are painfully slow. Robert De Niro stars as Nick Wells, the best safe cracker you could find, but as he's getting older and seeking more stability in his life. Considering retirement, Wells is asked to be part of one last big score, that will have him, and his fence, set for life. Wells reluctantly agrees, before finding out there is a catch, he'll be working with his possible replacement, an arrogant and cocky young man, who could wind up getting them all caught. As far as acting goes, you may never see a better trio of leading men, De Niro, Marlon Brando, and especially Edward Norton were absolutely terrific in their roles. The film however doesn't really take off until the crime actually begins. For over an hour they are in the planning stage, painstakingly going over every detail, and it really is as bad as it sounds, in fact, I almost turned it off, until the wheels were set in motion. From that point, the film really is terrific, with an ending that will leave your jaw on the floor! I was very happy with the last forty minutes of the film, and all three actors were fantastic, but so much of this film moves at a snails pact that I really couldn't give it a higher rating. This is a two hour film, that could have easily been shortened to an hour and a half, without losing any of it's integrity. All the detailed plans and unnecessary back and fourth make the first hour of this film painful, but if you can stick with it, the second hour is certainly worth it.

It's so rare to see heavily hyped or fabled "dream teams" of actors or actresses in films be successful, let alone play out, but the pairing of three generations of incredible method actors Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, and Marlon Brando in Frank Oz's The Score is something truly noteworthy. For one, you got two different faces of Don Vito Corleone coming together for the first and only time on screen in the same motion picture to deliver roles in which they nestle themselves so comfortably. Then there's Edward Norton, easily the underdog or the unassuming soul up against two indisputable acting greats who still manages to hold his own ground and, in some ways, echo the sentiments of these two veterans in their early days.The Score's relative obscurity in the modern day is baffling because this is a film that is precisely the kind of film that isn't made anymore, and if it is, it's made to further along an actor's career or ubiquity, meaning the exterior quality of the picture generally suffers or the budget is so pathetically low that any hope to witness a shred of realism is a lost cause. This is a tried and true heist film, taking a liberal two hours to really formulate its story, the motivations of its characters, their personalities, and their plans before plunging them into a mission that is essentially a field of landmines waiting to be tripped by the wrong move. Have fun and good luck.Nick Wells (Robert De Niro) is our main character, an aging crook who has made a comfortable living for him and his lover Diane (Angela Bassett) by working for his boss Max (Marlon Brando). Of course, just as Nick's about to hang up his hat and enjoy retirement with Diane, Max contacts him for one last job because no shyster, hit-man, or CIA agent can rest easy without one more job that's impossible to carry out. Max informs Nick of a job that would result in a $4 million payoff for him if he were able to steal a sceptre, a priceless national treasure belonging to France. The sceptre is hidden inside the leg of an antique piano, which was smuggled through Canada into the United States. Eventually, it was discovered and now lies in the heavily secured basement of the Montréal Customs House.Nick must work with Jack Teller (Edward Norton), a young, ambitious slickster who has managed to infiltrate the Customs House by pretending to be a mentally disabled janitor named Brian. Nick is furious to learn he is not only working with someone on the job, but someone he has never met prior to this job and someone he's unsure if he can trust. However, Max's increasing debt and forces Nick to continue to take on the job and work with Jack to obtain the beloved sceptre.The Score's relatively basic plot is enough to hook virtually any fan of crime dramas in from the beginning, but the real treat is the narrative craft the trio of writers (Scott Marshall Smith, Daniel E. Taylor, and Kario Salem) have cooked up. Rather than relying on a series of banal subplots, worthless characters, or, worst of all, a convoluted plot that disconnects the viewer just as quickly as it could've grabbed them, the writers work to keep The Score rooted in being precisely what it should be - a heist film with shady characters with self-centered ideologies with the element of deception being so present it disappears quite frequently amidst what appears to be complete honesty amongst the characters.Yet, despite this narrative simplicity, The Score wouldn't be a fraction of what it is without the immense amount of talent here. De Niro, during the time he was starting to exit the crime dramas and the loftier dramatic roles for roles that required a bit less effort and complexity, proves once again why he's hailed as an American great. The mannered sensibilities he conveys for Nick are nothing shy of believable, and just the way in which he speaks reflects a seasoned veteran of the crime field. Brando, in the limited scenes he's in, always finds ways to captive thanks to his soft-spoken aura and his character's ability to persuade. Seeing De Niro and Brando work off of one another, especially in one later scene that takes place in a pool, is a rousing good time.Then there's Norton who, as stated, will inevitably get the short end of the praise-stick with the two veterans commanding the screen. However, Norton gets at least three times as much screen time as Brando here and achieves the greatest goal of all when bearing that kind of pressure; never did I once wish that Brando's character was De Niro's character's sidekick whilst watching the film. Norton stands his ground here, being a smug, dictating soul one minute and a charismatic charmer the next. This duality proves that, even at a young age, Norton knew the kind of character he could play, and the fact that he played alongside two great men without slipping up is something I'm sure even more seasoned actors would have a difficult time doing.Finally, Rob Hahn's gloomy, industrial cinematography works wonders for the film as well, providing the picture with a refined sleekness that breeds corporate ugliness rather quickly. Any film that can work off that in addition to balancing the rich talents of three generations of performers and keep a straight-forward story deserves immense credit in my mind and The Score creates something from very little throughout the course of its runtime.

OK. Fairly tedious though. Overly complex and contrived plot. Only watched this because it has the rare combination of two of the greatest actors of all time, Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro. (The only time they have starred together in a movie? There is an interesting trivia question. Plus the interesting fact that they have both played Vito Corleone, and both won Oscars for doing so). Also worth watching in that it was the great Marlon Brando's last movie.Brando doesn't have much screen time, but he doesn't disappoint. De Niro is his typical solid self. Edward Norton puts in his usual clinical performance.Only worth watching for its historical significance.