Take Saturday night. The original 'Thomas Crown Affair' and the first episode of 'Luck,' HBO's new miniseries on gambling and horse racing were absorbed with some company on each side of dinner.
'Luck' was the first show viewed. I had already seen it, but was now playing it for a friend who hasn't succumbed to all the cable offerings on earth: thus, he doesn't have HBO.
'Luck' is several stories pursued at once, but all basically revolving around a throughbred racetrack, in this case, Santa Anita. The series is filled with name actors and actresses, produced and directed by TV veterans. The series promises to deliver some insight to the underbelly of racetrack gambling, casinos at racetracks, pursuit of championship races, with some lessons in equine proctology thrown in to prove horses have feelings too. All of that was covered in the first episode, and the only one aired, so far.
One gemlike story line centers on four regulars who collectively look like razor blades were misplaced for days, soap was hidden, and clothes were stored in Hefty bags. But these people exist, and in this case they hit a monster Pick-6 wager which will pay them $2,687,632, to be split four ways. We'll certainly see more about that.
The first 'Thomas Crown Affair' was being played by the public TV station. It's a 1968 movie that even after all these years, I've never completely seen. It's not really that good, starring Steve McQueen as a bored rich guy who robs his own bank, and Faye Dunaway, as an insurance investigator who gets to wear more hats and outfits than Leslie Stahl in a month's worth of
'60 Minutes' segments. She and Leslie could easily get into a cat fight at Bergdorf's.
But here's the kicker. The bank heist that Tommy Crown engineers is a tried and true cash-hauling stickup. Small bills. Ones, fives and twenties. Duffle bags of money that get dropped and picked up in a cemetery.
Paul Burke plays the lead investigating police lieutenant, and although the heist was pulled off in Boston, does not have a Boston accent. He carries his New York 'Naked City' accent with him, but it doesn't really matter. He's flummoxed by the caper. His hats look good next to Faye's.
Since this is 1968, and a lot of cash has been hauled off, there are a lot of reporters waiting outside the station house for Mr. Burke to appear. They fill the air with questions. "How much was taken?" This much Mr. Burke knows, claiming because of computers they figured out that $2,600,000 something, something, something was taken. (I don't have the movie on DVR so I can't replay the exact number, but it sounded very close to the Pick-6 payoff in 'Luck.' More research will be needed.)
Tommy Crown, who is reported to be worth over $4 million 1968 dollars, is a very rich man. It's now suspected he increased his wealth by 50%, confounding the police, because, if he's already got over $4 million, what does he want more for? Bernie Madoff, before and after trading at lunch, but a Bernie just the same.
The heist is physically so large that it requires at least eight trips to friendly Geneva to deliver the cash and stuff it into an easily acquired Swiss Bank account. The Swiss apparently don't open luggage at customs, but Mr. Crown doesn't earn any frequent flyer miles, because no one's thought of them yet.
The four guys who have hit the Pick-6 in 2011 have easily gone waaaaay beyond increasing their wealth 50%, even when the split is four ways. We don't yet really know what will happen with their riches, but we suspect at least one of them will lose his share to poker or cocaine. Maybe both.
It does show you how times change. To get a quick $2.6 million dollar windfall in 1968 some rich guy has got to holdup his own bank and fly back and forth to Geneva eight times to give it safe harbor.
In 2011, four unwashed guys can honestly hit a Pick-6 six worth $2.6 million and wait to show us all how they're going to handle it.
I do know this. It's still more money than I'll ever have.
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