Bruce Campbell Leads The Best Heist Movie You’ve Never Heard Of

By Robert Scucci
| Published 14 seconds ago

Some of my favorite moments in film and TV involve long tracking shots that appear to have been filmed in a single take. Rust Cohle’s legendary six-minute run through the projects in True Detective Season 1’s “Who Goes There” has earned its reputation as one of the most ambitious sequences in modern television, and 2014’s Birdman ups the ante by only showing clear cuts during pivotal moments, otherwise presenting itself as one continuous feature-length shot. 1997’s Running Time, directed by Josh Becker, co-written by Becker and Peter Choi, and starring Bruce Campbell, plays out similarly, and it’s the best heist movie you’ve never heard of.

Clocking in at just 70 minutes, Running Time not only appears to be filmed in a single take like Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope (1948), its story also unfolds in real time, mirroring Robert Wise’s 1949 noir classic, The Set-Up. Running Time wastes no time getting into the action because the clock is ticking, the safe needs to be cracked, and fortune only favors the bold. In this case, bold means orchestrating one of the sloppiest heists known to man, minutes after getting out of prison.

Back To His Old Ways In No Time At All

Bruce Campbell is Carl Matushka in Running Time, a petty criminal who has just finished a five-year sentence for a botched heist. After jokingly telling the Warden (Art LaFleur) that he’s getting into the laundry business, he walks out a free man and immediately boards a bus driven by his former partner, Patrick (Jeremy Roberts), with their next score already in mind. While Carl got caught the first time because of Patrick’s carelessness, he figures Patrick owes him one since he never ratted him out when he was apprehended five years earlier.

Sitting in the back of the bus is a prostitute named Randi (Anita Barone), who he soon realizes is his high school sweetheart, Janie, wearing a blonde wig. Carl promises to reconnect with her after pulling off the upcoming heist, and she gives him her address and phone number, though she has no reason to believe he’ll actually come back for her.

As for the heist itself, it couldn’t be more stupid. While working in the prison laundry unit, Carl learned that the Warden and other corrections officers had figured out a way to make a small fortune off the books. They contracted local laundry services, rigged the scales, overcharged, and pocketed the difference. After overhearing where they make the bag drop, Carl, with help from Patrick, former cellmate and safe-cracking expert Buzz (William Stanford Davis), and hapless junkie Donny (Gordon Jennison Noice), plans to steal what he assumes is roughly $250,000 in cash.

With about 10 minutes to pull off the plan, the bus gets a flat tire, it becomes obvious Donny can’t be trusted with the getaway vehicle, and Buzz discovers Patrick’s intel about what kind of safe needs to be cracked was wrong, forcing them to improvise as Patrick quickly resorts to violence. It’s a perfect, profoundly stupid plan that unravels in record time on multiple fronts.

A Single, Fluid Shot

While there are likely hidden edits in Running Time for obvious logistical reasons, the entire film feels like one unbroken shot. From the prison gates to the final getaway, Bruce Campbell commands the screen with his snark and charm as bedlam erupts around him. The getaway sequences are some of the best I’ve seen in a heist film with such a shoestring budget, and the tension generated by its short run time makes it clear why this isn’t a 90-minute feature. Another 20 minutes of suspense might actually push you over the edge as the gang splits up, trades gunfire with cops, and nearly loses a bag that ultimately turns out to be worth closer to $30,000 than $250,000.

Such a reckless heist can only be pulled off by somebody like Bruce Campbell, who exudes disproportionate confidence the entire time. My favorite moment comes when he realizes just how unreliable Donny is and casually says to Patrick, “Hey, can I talk to you over here for a second?” as if he’s only mildly inconvenienced while trying to score bags of cash from the Warden minutes after his release.

For good, dumb fun that plays out smarter than it has any right to, Running Time is currently streaming for free on Tubi.