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Harry in Your Pocket

Play trailer Poster for Harry in Your Pocket 1973 1h 42m Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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After working as a two-man team for years, older pickpockets Harry (James Coburn) and Casey (Walter Pidgeon) have recently taken on two young recruits: Ray (Michael Sarrazin) and his girlfriend, Sandy (Trish Van Devere). The latter are meant to work distracting the various marks while Harry and Casey rob them blind. Ray wants more than anything to learn the tricks these two old pros can teach him, while Harry mostly wants to have Sandy for himself.

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Harry in Your Pocket

Critics Reviews

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Tony Mastroianni Cleveland Press Harry In Your Pocket offers an interesting short course in picking pockets but there's little more that you can say for it. Nov 19, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member This is a gem of a movie. The acting, scenery and dialogue is excellent and all the actors are perfectly cast for this 70s must see masterpiece. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/13/20 Full Review Audience Member I quite liked this film. I'd never seen this story about a team of pickpockets traveling first class up and down the west coast running their pickpocket schemes. Michael Sarrazin and Trish Van Devere are the newer and younger members of he team led by the charming James Coburn. Best of all though is Walter Pidgeon as an aging pickpocket with a drug addition who Coburn keeps around more out of sentimentality than out of necessity. The film definitely has the anti-establishment sentiment of the time, but take a very different route than the usual "Easy Rider" Turn on, tune in, drop out type of sentiment, but was more living outside the system and their laws to live the good life, and instead living by their own code of what's right. But at the heart of the film are the characters who make the living by deceit and are never sure about the other, but who all also seem to care a great deal for each other. The film works as something of a subculture film, like "Rounders" that took you into the world of underground poker or "Suburbia" did for puck rock scene or any number of other films that take you into a secret world in a fascinating way. It's a terrific little film that today would probably have been a small independent and not a major Hollywood studio film. The 70s was definitely a renaissance time for Hollywood. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Pick pocket movie that goes stale at times. However, if you stick with it , it gets better Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member In 1966, director Geller wrote, created, and produced the television series Mission: Impossible, the accomplishment for which he is best remembered. The show ran on CBS from 1966 to 1973 and earned him an Emmy Award in 1966 as the show's producer plus another for "Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama." [img]https://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/107/MPW-53557[/img] 80% (1973) Harry In Your Pocket DRAMA/ THRILLER Although they're better 'pickpocket' films made from other countries... More 80% I have seen this movie several times. It is much better than it is given credit for.. [img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sXLGBJWOqWc/Tz6ysKwCpfI/AAAAAAAAGGY/CDYwYk5rKbg/s400/harry_in_your_pocket.jpg[/img] NOTES: 1 The movie is notable for giving a presumably-fictionalized but matter-of-fact way of how a wire mob operates and its jargon. In fact, it's said that the actors portraying the "cannon squad" in Seattle that tell Harry it's time to leave town were former pickpockets themselves and served as technical advisors to the movie. The movie makes extensive reference to a system of cant - pickpockets jargon. Some examples: Pickpocket definitions: Poke - The wallet, the object of the theft. Kick - any area on a person where a poke commonly resides. For instance, a prat kick is the mark's back pocket; the patch kick is the outside pocket in a suit jacket. Mark - The intended victim. Stall - Members of the team, working under the cannon who distract or "artfully stumble" into people giving the chance for the dip to occur. Cannon - The actual pickpocket, the leader of the group in this case. Also, apparently, the police slang term for same. Dip - The act of taking the poke. Steer - The member of the team who selects marks and telegraphs to the stalls and cannon where the poke will be found. [img]http://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/sites/default/files/stills_events_390_240/harryinpocket390.jpg?1305841328[/img] 2 Harry's Law: Amongst the blunter points Harry makes is what is seen as the most important rule: Harry's Law: Harry never holds. Not for a minute, not for thirty seconds. This means that as soon as Harry's hit the mark, someone must be on hand to take the poke off his hands, providing cover for Harry and allowing him to go on and hit more marks. 3 Harry In Your Pocket was brought to DVD (or any other home video format), for the first time, on May 3, 2011, as part of the MGM Limited Edition Collection series. Directed by Bruce Geller Produced by Bruce Geller Alan Godfrey Written by James Buchanan Ronald Austin Starring James Coburn Michael Sarrazin Trish Van Devere Walter Pidgeon Music by Lalo Schifrin (same for 60's Mission Impossible TV series) Cinematography Fred J. Koenekamp Distributed by United Artists Release dates 1973 Running time 103 min. [img]http://www.cinemaretro.com/uploads/harrypocket.jpg[/img] Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Starts as a sprightly romp but deflates as it nears it's conclusion. Walter Pidgeon comes off best. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member I'm a fairly big James Coburn fan ever since I saw Duffy. But this movie pretty much sucks. So many holes in the plot...it looked like an abc movie of the week. coburn was good, but he couldnt save this movie Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Harry in Your Pocket

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Movie Info

Synopsis After working as a two-man team for years, older pickpockets Harry (James Coburn) and Casey (Walter Pidgeon) have recently taken on two young recruits: Ray (Michael Sarrazin) and his girlfriend, Sandy (Trish Van Devere). The latter are meant to work distracting the various marks while Harry and Casey rob them blind. Ray wants more than anything to learn the tricks these two old pros can teach him, while Harry mostly wants to have Sandy for himself.
Director
Bruce Geller
Producer
Bruce Geller
Screenwriter
James D. Buchanan, Ron Austin
Production Co
Cinema Video Communications (CVC)
Genre
Crime, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 10, 2017
Runtime
1h 42m
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