Big boat cars and bellbottom trousers, rotaryphones and turntables—the flamboyant ‘70s are a superb setting for crimecapers. The visually distinct era is well suited for film adaptations of the late 20th century's greatest crime novelist, ElmoreLeonard. The author's stories have been transformed into numerous films, including Get Shorty, JackieBrown and Out of Sight. The latest Leonard adaptation, Life of Crime, is anengaging story of sympathetic outlaws in 1970 Detroit, where a salt-and-pepper pairof beautiful losers (John Hawkes, Yasiin Bey) is determined to shake down ahigh profile crook, a corrupt real estate developer (Tim Robbins).
Life of Crime features a standout performance byJennifer Aniston as the developer’s wife, the target of Hawkes and Bey’s kidnapscheme. They demand a cool $1million for her safe release, but her husband, a callous jerk, balks. He’s inthe Bahamas with his mistress (Isla Fisher) and, unbeknownst to his wife, had mailed the divorce papersbefore leaving the country. The scheming mistress would happily see the wifedead.
Detroit ’70 was still the bustling Motor City,but was already getting the reputation as a crime capital, Kill City. Most ofthe period details in Life of Crime look accurate, especially those big boatcars sailing down the Detroit streets. Sadly, the soundtrack is a bit off, including numbers (10cc’s “DreadlockHoliday”) as yet unrecorded in the year the movie is set.
Directed with efficiency (and good humor) by DanielSchechter, Life of Crime is out on DVD and Blu-ray.
