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Lassiter (film)

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Lassiter
Directed byRoger Young
Written byDavid Taylor
StarringTom Selleck
Jane Seymour
Lauren Hutton
Bob Hoskins
Music byKen Thorne
Release dates
17 February, 1984
Running time
100 min
Country United States
LanguageEnglish

Lassiter is a 1984 adventure film part-caper and part-espionage, set in 1930s London, starring Tom Selleck and Jane Seymour that was made to cash in on Selleck's popularity as the character Thomas Magnum in the show Magnum, P.I. but failed to ignite the box-office on its release. The "Magnum, P.I." connection is perhaps most clearly seen by the movie poster tagline The Magnum Man Hits the Big Screen with a Vengeance.

Cast

Plot

Nick Lassiter (Tom Selleck) is a gentleman jewel thief in 1934 London, England. He is arrested by the police after breaking into a London mansion and, after being a member of a phony lineup in which he is positively identified by a law enforcement plant, British law enforcement and the FBI blackmail Lassiter to break into the German Embassy and steal $10 million in Nazi diamonds from a German spy (Lauren Hutton), but first he must locate their hiding place. The gems are en route from South America and will be sold to help finance Hitler's military buildup.

Trivia

Lassiter is the only movie where Jane Seymour is seen nude, from the rear and side.

Selleck was already under contract to star in the television series Magnum, P.I. when he was offered the role of Indiana Jones in the 1981 movie Raiders of the Lost Ark by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Selleck decided the honorable option was to honor his contract and stay with the television series. As it turned out "Magnum, P.I." was delayed for several months and Selleck could have made the movie but the role had already been filled by Harrison Ford. Selleck's 1984 movie "Lassiter" is seen as an attempt by Selleck (along with the movie High Road to China) to star in a vehicle that borrows heavily from the Indiana Jones character, and in this case also James Bond.

Brian Coburn was dubbed by David de Keyser.

Lassiter is also known as "The Magnificient Thief"

Selected review(s)

Here's a basic rule about thrillers: Style is a lot more important than plot. What happens isn't nearly as important as how it happens and who it happens to—and if you doubt me, think back over to your favorite James Bond movies. LASSITER is a good example. Here's a movie with a plot spun out of thin air. That doesn't matter, though, because the movie is acted and directed with such style that we have fun slogging through the silliness. And part of the fun comes from watching Tom Selleck, the hero of "Magnum, P.I.," in a movie that does him justice. He was wasted in HIGH ROAD TO CHINA, which looked like a RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK rip-off with Selleck plugged into the Harrison Ford role. LASSITER is a movie that seems to have been made with Selleck in mind, and he delivers—he's clearly one of the few actors capable of making the leap from TV to the big screen. The movie stars Selleck as Nick Lassiter, an American thief in London on the eve of World War II. A hardheaded police inspector (Bob Hoskins) gets the goods on him and makes him a flat offer: Either Lassiter breaks into the German Embassy and steals $10 million in jewels, or he goes into the slammer. Lassiter goes for the jewels. That involves seducing the kinky, sadistic German countess (Lauren Hutton) who has the diamonds in her bedroom inside the well-guarded embassy. The movie misses a bet here: It spends a lot of time establishing the Hutton character (who has an unusual taste for blood), and we see her killing one of her bed partners. Yet when Lassiter finally goes to bed with her, the movie cuts to the morning after instead of showing how he survived the night. And there's no big final confrontation with the countess; at a crucial moment, Lassiter knocks her cold, and that's that. Other characters are handled more carefully. We meet Lassiter's sweet girlfriend (Jane Seymour, looking more than ever like a perfect porcelain portrait); Hoskins, who played the mob boss in THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY; and assorted creeps. Selleck occupies this world effortlessly. He is a big man, and yet he moves gracefully, wears a tuxedo well, makes charming small talk, doesn't seem to be straining himself during the fight scenes, and, in general, stands at the center of a lot of action as if he belonged there. He would make a good James Bond. LASSITER knows that, and knows that style and movement are a lot more important than making sense of everything. I squirm when the action stops in a thriller while the characters explain everything to one another; I think of those speeches as memos from the screenwriter to the director. LASSITER stops for nothing.

- Roger Ebert, Jan. 1, 1984

There's not much variety to what Tom Selleck does on the screen. It goes without saying that he seems friendly and looks preternaturally handsome, that he wears clothes well and changes them with amazing frequency. But he doesn't appear to have more than a passing interest in anything that goes on around him, so why should you? Though "Lassiter" flings Mr. Selleck into a plot involving Nazis, diamonds and beautiful but depraved German aristocrats, you may soon lose track of the fine points. Even by the standards of escapist entertainment, little of Lassiter seems to matter. "Lassiter," which opens today at the Criterion and other theaters, is set in pre-World War II London, where Mr. Selleck, as the title character, is a highly successful jewel thief (he looks great in black cat-burglar garb). The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Scotland Yard jointly enlist his help in capturing some uncut diamonds that might otherwise be used to finance Nazi activities, and in the course of this, Lassiter must commingle with a wicked and elegant countess (he looks great in evening clothes). Lauren Hutton plays the countess, and meanwhile, back at home, Lassiter also has the beautiful Sara (Jane Seymour) waiting. It all sounds glamorous, but somehow, it's not. The dialogue, from David Taylor's screenplay, runs toward lines like, "Lassiter! It won't be that difficult, not for a man like you," and, "Careful, Nick! She's a woman with appetities - unusual appetities." Notwithtanding the efforts of some good actors in the supporting cast (Bob Hoskins, Joe Regalbuto, Ed Lauter) and a spirited performance from Miss Seymour, Mr. Selleck remains the film's chief, if not only, attraction. There are indications that he might fare better with less gimmicky material and with more of the self-mocking humor that surfaces here only briefly. In the meantime, "Lassiter" is designed solely for audiences whose interest is in ogling the star. As directed by Roger Young, it contains a bit more nudity and violence than the tepid material actually warrants - an indication that the film may be aimed more at Mr. Selleck's international following than his local admirers.

- New York Times, Feb. 17, 1984

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