Harry and Walter Go to New York

Harry and Walter Go to New York is a 1976 American period comedy film written by John Byrum and Robert Kaufman, directed by Mark Rydell, and starring James Caan, Elliott Gould, Michael Caine, Diane Keaton, Charles Durning and Lesley Ann Warren. In the film, two dimwitted con-men try to pull off the biggest heist ever seen in late nineteenth-century New York City. They are opposed by the greatest bank robber of the day, and aided by a crusading newspaper editor.

Plot

Harry Dighby and Walter Hill are struggling vaudevillians who are sent to jail when Dighby is caught robbing audience members. They become roommates to a cultured, wealthy, and charming bank robber named Adam Worth. Worth plans to rob the Lowell Bank and Trust, both to avenge himself on the bank manager who had arranged his capture and because his ego cannot resist the temptation of robbing a bank reputed to be perfectly secure. Though in jail, he procures detailed diagrams of the bank's security systems. Given his wealth, he is able to bribe the warden and staff to cater to his needs: a large cell, his own furnishings, servants, and other perks.

A reforming newspaperwoman named Lissa Chestnut visits their cell. During her visit Dighby and Hill manage to photograph the bank plans with her camera, then accidentally burn the originals, which enrages Worth, and he orders the warden to put them on the work team that handles nitroglycerin.