Swindle | |
---|---|
Genre | Comedy |
Based on | Swindle by Gordon Korman |
Written by | Eric Freiser Bill Motz Bob Roth |
Directed by | Jonathan Judge |
Starring | Jennette McCurdy Noah Crawford Chris O'Neal Ariana Grande Noah Munck Fred Ewanuick Ciara Bravo |
Theme music composer | John Van Tongeren |
Country of origin | United States Canada |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producers | Scott McAboy, Amy Sydorick |
Cinematography | Tom Harting |
Editor | Anita Brandt-Burgoyne |
Running time | 91 minutes |
Production company | Pacific Bay Entertainment (Vancouver) |
Original release | |
Network | Nickelodeon |
Release | August 24, 2013 [1] |
Swindle is a 2013 television film starring Noah Crawford, Chris O'Neal, Jennette McCurdy, Noah Munck, Ariana Grande, Ciara Bravo, and Fred Ewanuick. Based on Gordon Korman's novel of the same name, the film tells the story of Griffin (Noah Crawford), a boy who retrieves his friend's valuable baseball card from an unscrupulous collectibles dealer with the help of his friends. [2] [3] [4] Sneak peeks promoting the film aired on Nickelodeon during three Sam & Cat episodes and the final episode of Big Time Rush . The film premiered August 24, 2013 to an audience of over 4.2 million viewers. [5] The film was released on DVD on March 19, 2014, [6] and on Blu-ray on December 4, 2015. [7]
Teenager Griffin Bing is known for helping out friends in times of need. His friend Ben Dupree's family are preparing to sell their home as a result of Ben's father's failed inventions, one of which punches a hole in the wall, and the boys find a Honus Wagner baseball card inside. They sell it to pawn store owner Paul Swindell for $350.
Griffin and Ben see on the news that Swindell plans to sell it for $1.2 million, claiming to have found it himself. They confront Swindell who refuses to return the card. Griffin plans a heist to take the card back with a team consisting of cheerleader Amanda Benson, actress Savannah Westcott, and “the muscle” Darren Vader. He rejects his younger sister, hacker Melissa's bid to join the team.
The team sneaks into Swindell's shop and Griffin finds the card, but worries that they would be prime suspects in the robbery. He lets Melissa join the team after she saves them by hacking the shop's alarm. Wealthy businessman Anton Lefevre invites Swindell to auction off the card to him. Amanda borrows two "Captain Cybertor" action figures, one with the intended blue hair, and a rare accidentally red-headed version worth $80,000.
Swindell plans to sell the card at the Lakeshore Hotel auction. Posing as Swindell's bratty daughter, Savannah obtains his crown suite room key. Melissa hacks the hotel's system and gives Swindell a cheap room. Savannah and Darren let Swindell lie to them about the red-headed Captain Cybertor's actual price, and sell it to him for $10. Disguised as Lefevre, Griffin informs Swindell of a collector named Ivan Volkov who is searching for a red-headed Captain Cybertor.
Amanda switches the Cybertor boxes. Swindell sells it to Volkov for $80,000 before seeing through Ben's disguise and entering the gang's room. The gang tells him about the Cybertor switch and offer him the red-haired Cybertor in return for the Honus Wagner card, showing him footage of a furious Volkov. Swindell lunges for the red toy which falls off the balcony onto a couple's wedding cake. They all chase after it. Meanwhile, Ben's father is also at the hotel showing his new invention, the "iGotit", competing for a cash prize in an invention game show.
The gang retrieves the Cybertor and exchanges it with Swindell for the card. Swindell gives the Cybertor to Volkov who orders him to flee. Volkov is revealed to actually be Savannah's father, enlisted to help. The gang reveals themselves to Lefevre as the actual owners of the card; he invites them to the auction. While leaving, Swindell spills his case revealing a load of fake Honus Wagner cards with Swindell's face on them. He is presented with the $35,000 bill for the Crown Suite.
Ben rewards the gang with $25,000 for their help, explaining his family no longer need the money because his father's invention won the cash prize. Ben pays for a real honeymoon for the wedding couple, pays for the group's college, and lets himself and his team spend the rest. A little girl asks for Griffin's help retrieving her rare-breed bird, worth $20,000, from a fake groomer. Griffin decides that the group should use the rest of the money to continue to foil swindlers.
Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the film a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, stating that "Nickelodeon alums team up in funny book-inspired heist film." [9] [10] David Hinckley gave the film a glowing review in New York Daily News . [11]
Johannes Peter "Honus" Wagner, was an American baseball shortstop who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1897 to 1917, mostly with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nicknamed "the Flying Dutchman" due to his superb speed and German heritage, Wagner was a prototypical five-tool player, known for being a versatile defender who could combine a strong throwing arm with the ability to play almost any defensive position as well as being capable of hitting for average and for power. He is widely regarded as the greatest shortstop of all time. In 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Wagner as one of the first five members.
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The T206 Honus Wagner baseball card depicts the Pittsburgh Pirates' Honus Wagner, known as "The Flying Dutchman", a dead-ball era baseball player who is widely considered to be one of the best players of all time. The card was designed and issued by the American Tobacco Company (ATC) from 1909 to 1911 as part of its T206 series. Wagner refused to allow production of his baseball card to continue, either because he did not want children to buy cigarette packs to get his card, or because he wanted more compensation from the ATC. The ATC ended production of the Wagner card, and a total of only 50 to 200 cards were ever distributed to the public. In 1933, the card was first listed at a price value of US$50 in Jefferson Burdick's The American Card Catalog, making it the most expensive baseball card in the world at the time.
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