Critics reviews

Roemer is rightly renowned for his classic civil rights drama Nothing But a Man (1964), but the rest of his little-seen oeuvre is worthy of attention. In this warm-hearted, endearingly shambolic comedy (made in 1969, but first screened at Cannes 20 years later), Martin Priest stars as Harry Plotnick, a Jewish, small-time racketeer with a dicky ticker.

Part of the grace and beauty of The Plot Against Harry stems from the fact that although it has at least three dozen characters and a complicated plot, it glides past the viewer with the greatest of ease... The basic tone is comic and satiric, but the comedy and satire almost never take the form of outright gags; they come across as affectionate rather than scathing or malicious--though a wealth of social criticism is implied throughout.