My first George Clooney movie that I really remember is Out of Sight (1998).  It kind gets lost in the shuffle of the various other movies that the film’s stars have done.  It is also one of the first in which I recall seeing Don Cheadle.  We were all young once, were we not?  That is not meant to be an indictment on the film, as if this is an example of the dumb stuff people do in their youth.  Okay, maybe some of the behavior of the main characters is a little questionable.  Outside of that, however, it is a pretty solid bit of cinema with some surprising lessons.

Speaking of George Clooney, in Out of Sight he plays Jack Foley.  Jack is not the business man we might think when you first see him.  If him yanking the tie from his neck and frustratingly throwing it on the ground is not an indication of this, then his next action will give you a better clue.  Across the street is a bank.  Inside, after a few minutes observation, he walks up to the bank teller (Donna Frenzel) and talks her into emptying out her drawer and giving him all the money.  In other words, he has robbed the bank.  He does not get it away with it, though, as his car will not start and he is taken into custody by security guards.  This lands him in the Belle Glades Correctional Facility.  This puts a temporary pause on his plans.  I say “temporary” because in conversing with his ex-wife and ex-magician’s assistant Adele (Catherine Keener), he is making arrangements with his best friend and partner in crime, Buddy Bragg (Ving Rhames), to escape.  On the night that this is to take place, United States Marshal Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez), arrives at the prison to transport a convict.  She is on hand for the jail break, though Jack initially fools the guards because he had managed to steal another guard’s uniform.  This buys him enough time to make the shotgun toting Karen pause, and for him and Buddy to disarm her.  They put Karen in the trunk of her car and Jack gets in with her.  During their ride, Jack and Karen converse about Jack’s reputation as a prolific bank robber and movies.  In other words, Jack is flirting, and there seems to be the beginnings of a relationship.  Before it can get too far, they arrive at the place where they are meeting Glenn Michaels (Steve Zahn).  This is the real reason for Jack “flying the coup,” as they say.  While Buddy, Glenn, and Jack were incarcerated together at the Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution, Glenn got to know the crooked business tycoon Richard Ripley (Albert Brooks).  Richard, not being used to such establishments, is rather talkative.  He brags to Glenn about having $5 million in his house in uncut diamonds alone, not to mention his other sources of wealth.  Another problem Richard has besides his indiscretions is his need for protection while in jail.  For this he turns to Maurice “Snoopy” Miller (Don Cheadle), a former boxer doing time.  Jack witnesses Snoopy attempting to extort higher prices for his services from Richard, and steps in to help.  In return, Richard promises a job to Jack once he gets out of jail.  When Jack shows up, it turns out to be a front desk guy, signing people in and out of the building.  This is not to Jack’s liking, hence the outburst at the beginning of the film.  This also brings us back to meeting up with Glenn, although Jack is not the biggest fan of his.  He is given further reason when Glenn allows Karen to convince him to take off in the car instead of waiting for Jack to change out of his clothes.  Buddy thinks they need to get out of town, but Jack wants to stick around a little longer to try to see if he cannot pursue a romantic relationship with Karen, despite the fact that she is actively trying to bring him into custody.  A close call with her and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at their apartment convinces them that they need to relocate.  Their destination is Detroit because that is where Richard lives.  That is also where Glenn goes, instead meeting up with Snoopy to team up with him to scam Richard.  This proves to be a mistake because Snoopy, along with two other men, are into more violent crime.  They force Glenn to participate in murdering a rival of Snoopy’s, which traumatizes Glenn.  Thus, when Buddy and Jack finally find him in Detroit, he tries to warn them away from Snoopy.  Unfortunately, it is too late to cut Snoopy and his guys out of the plan thanks to Glenn.  While they put together their delicate alliance, Karen follows them to Detroit.  Jack notices her picture in the newspaper, and calls all the hotels in the area until he finds her.  He approaches her that night in the hotel’s bar, which she accepts despite having turned down a number of the other patrons.  Before long, they are sharing the bed, if you catch my drift.  They refer to this interlude as a “time out,” but the next day it is “time in.”  A terrified Glenn is caught by Karen while trying to get away from Snoopy.  Meanwhile, Buddy and Jack are informed by Snoopy that their plan is moved up to that night, owing to Glenn’s disappearance.  Karen follows them to Richard’s house.  Inside the vast house, everyone splits up, and Jack finds Richard first.  He also locates the gems, telling Buddy to take them and go.  Jack stays behind because he fears that Kenneth (Isaiah Washington), Snoopy’s right-hand man, is going to rape and murder Midge (Nancy Allen), Richard’s girlfriend.  Eventually, it comes down to a fight between Jack and Snoopy, and Jack is saved by Karen.  Karen has a gun on Jack, pleading with Jack to put his own down.  Jack refuses, not wanting to go back to prison.  Hence, she shoots him in the leg and handcuffs him anyway.  We close with her transporting him back to Belle Glades, but with renowned escape artist Hejira Henry (Samuel L. Jackson) riding along.

The suggestion at the end of Out of Sight is that Hejira is going to help Jack to get away once more.  It should come as no shock that Catholicism does not condone this kind of behavior, without mentioning the hundreds of banks from which Jack has stolen.  I am sometimes hesitant to say such things.  It is not because they are untrue, or that there is little value in reminding you of these principles.  I simply sometimes worry that doing so casts the Church further into the kind of stereotypically condemnatory light with which it has to contend in modern society.  The flip side of this is the belief that every person is redeemable.  Also, the Church encourages visiting the imprisoned.  It is a corporal act of mercy.  With these things in mind, Buddy and Jack make interesting characters.  Jack going back to save Midge demonstrates that not all criminals are the monsters we can sometimes make them out to be.  He should also be commended for the fact that he never uses a gun during any of his robberies.  None this condones theft, but it is something.  Even more interesting of a person, particularly in a Catholic sense, is Buddy.  He confesses all his actions to his sister after the fact.  Sound familiar?  I would also mention the cross he wears around his neck, but there are many people in the prison system that probably do the same.  At any rate, while confessing your sins to a lay person does not count in the eyes of the Church, it still relates to how he is somewhat uncomfortable with his aberrant behavior.

I recommend Out of Sight.  It is a movie that I had not seen in a while, and I was happy to re-watch it.  I also would argue that it does not completely glorify crime.  After all, Karen does the right thing at the end by arresting Jack.  Granted, she does seem to give him an out at the end, but that just means she will have to track him down again.  There is a little bit of language, and some violence, but nothing too out of the ordinary.  Take a look.