 Written by Jeffrey Fiskin, the film is about a group of small-time out-of-luck thieves, led by the unemployed Weslake (Donald Sutherland), who attempt to rob the neighborhood pawn shop owned by the greedy Garvey (Jack Warden).It's a remake of the Italian film "Big Deal on Madonna Street" (1958) directed by Mario Monicelli.The action is set in San Francisco during the 1980s.