85. Quick Change

No one can accuse Bill Murray of being afraid to take chances. The comedian-turned-actor isn’t unique because his career boasts extreme highs and drastic lows. What’s odd is how quickly his stock can rise and fall from project to project. It speaks to Murray’s fearless approach to film selection. He may go down with the ship in one film (say, Ghostbusters II), but he’s right back in the saddle for the next.

Quick Change, released with little fanfare in 1990, was a rebound picture for Murray from -- of all things -- the aforementioned and utterly unspeakable Ghostbusters sequel. Murray plays Grimm, a disgruntled city planner with a plan of his own. Dressed as a clown, he’s going to rob a bank. He even has a clever way of getting out of the bank, but it must be seen to be believed.

Grimm also has a crew. Right hand man Loomis (Randy Quaid) is slavishly devoted to Grimm, and has been since childhood. Kindly Phyllis (Geena Davis) isn’t really a criminal so much as a fellow admirer of Grimm’s crafty intelligence. Throughout the course of the day, the trio is pursued by Chief Rotzinger, expertly imagined by the late Jason Robards.

Getting out of the bank proves to be a walk in the park for Grimm and company. Getting to the airport is another matter altogether. Grimm’s attempts to skip town are repeatedly blocked by surly cab drivers, fellow crooks (who seem to be a dime a dozen in Manhattan) and Phillip Bosco, who steals the show as a rule-abiding bus driver.

This is Murray’s brand of comedy. He’s the better man -- in his mind, at least -- who clings for sanity and order while the world collapses around his ears. Quick Change grows more claustrophobic the moment Grimm, Loomis and Phyllis leave the bank. And every time the airport moves a step in the opposite direction, we laugh even harder at the circumstances surrounding this motley trio.

Quick Change also serves as that rare breed of film that employs a major U.S. city as a character. This would happen again in another Murray film, Mad Dog and Glory, which shined a favorable light on Chicago that John Cusack’s still trying to emulate. Without New York and its grisly inhabitants, we’re left with an all-too-simple bank heist. When the streets of the Big Apple, and the rotten seeds at its core, rise up, we get Murray at his most-frustrated. Which means we get Murray at his finest. (Sean O’Connell)