Charlie, known as Charlie the Ox, is a safecracker. Or rather, he would like to be. He doesn’t get hired to do much work, frequently bungles the jobs he takes on his own, and his specialty (every safecracker has to have a specialty, of course) is a cheap safe used widely to hold mostly useless stuff. Even his mentor, a once-famous retired safecracker doesn’t think much of him. So of course, when a local big name boss hires him for a job, he is thrilled even though he is ordered to hold off until they call and give him the go-ahead. But when he discovers that the job was pulled while he was waiting for the call, he sets out to get revenge.
This is a fun little heist/revenge picture, and although it’s a trifle uneven at times, fans of the genre will doubtless enjoy it. Charlie is a sweet guy, and it’s nice to see a hero who isn’t terribly bright and isn’t terribly good at his job succeed through sheer dogged determination.
Shows 3/5, 5:15pm and 10:00 pm (San Jose Rep); 3/6, 4:00 pm (Camera 12)