Past Film/Video | Classics

The Plot Against Harry

(Michael Roemer, 1969)

35MM Print

A large group of people gathered at a fancy party. The men are all wearing yarmulkes and tuxedos and the women are wearing dresses.

A bona fide comedy classic, The Plot Against Harry wowed festival audiences in New York and Toronto nearly 20 years after its original less than stellar preview.

Now available in a new 35mm print, The Plot Against Harry follows small-time con man Harry Plotnick (played by Martin Priest) who was just released from prison. Back on the street, his life is one hilarious complication after another. The neighborhood he and his racketeer friends once controlled has been taken over by other gangs. He crashes into a car carrying his ex-wife and family, bringing his adult daughter and a daughter he never knew he had into his life.

It’s a gangster film, a comedy, and a memorable portrait of the community of Eastern European and Russian Jews that settled in New York City’s Lower East Side. (81 mins., 35mm)

IMAGE CAPTION
The Plot Against Harry, courtesy of the Film Desk.

"The Plot Against Harry, from 1969, should have become an instant classic—of American Jewish cinema, of gangster movies, of film comedy, and of bold creativity on a low budget."

FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
National Endowment for the Arts
Ohio Humanities

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Rohauer Collection Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Ohio Department of Development
Greater Columbus Arts Council
The Wexner Family
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Ohio Arts Council
CampusParc
Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme
The Columbus Foundation
Nationwide Foundation
Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Mike and Paige Crane
Axium Packaging
Nancy Kramer
Ohio State Energy Partners
Ohio History Fund/Ohio History Connection
Larry and Donna James
Bruce and Joy Soll
Jones Day
Alex and Renée Shumate

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Past Film/Video

The Plot Against Harry