Very gritty and realistic

Rating: 8/10 (14 April 2009)

I think that this film is a bit overrated (I would never place this within the top 250 films ever made and I know it is a critical favorite), though it still is a very good film. That's because it gives such a gritty and realistic portrait of a bank robbery gone bad and is totally unlike any cops and robbers film made before or sense. Part of this gritty realism is the amazingly "colorful" dialog. You'd never expect to hear this many f-words used in a film back in 1975. I didn't love this, but understand that real criminals in such a situation would probably not worry about offending people with their use of expletives--so I can't fault this either.
While I often give longer reviews, there are frankly so many good reviews for this film already as well as synopses of the film--so I won't bore you with these details. Instead, I will point out that this largely improvised film worked well due to excellent direction and acting. I have no complaints at all but also didn't see the film as THAT exceptional. Sure, it was a very, very good film but not one that I would put in the category of MUST SEE.
If you haven't guessed, this is NOT a movie for kids but for mature adults who can handle the subject matter and aren't turned off by the realism, then it's an excellent and worthwhile film.