Film

Bone

Name: Bone
Genre: Comedy, Thriller
Released: 1972
Cast: Yaphet Kotto, Andrew Duggan, Joyce Van Patten, Jeannie Berlin, Brett Somers

Crime

A 1972 film about a career criminal who breaks into a Beverly Hills mansion, only to find himself caught between a fractured marriage and his own desperate circumstances. Dark comedy-thriller that pairs '70s paranoia with domestic satire, building toward something genuinely unsettling. A cult oddity that feels like it arrived from nowhere.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you relish sour, talky black comedy where the crime feels almost incidental and the characters' vanity does most of the damage.

Skip it if the thriller side is thin and the jokes are more chatty than tight, so if you need taut suspense or relentless momentum, this will feel slack.

What it asks of you: Ninety-five minutes, unhurried in its middle stretch, with a lot of talking in close rooms; it wants you to keep track of who wants what and to enjoy the wait.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

In a Lonely Place1950

Humphrey Bogart as a volatile screenwriter suspected of murder—suspicious, trapped, and darkly charismatic. Like Bone, it finds terrible comedy in the spaces between guilt and innocence.

But Older Hollywood style feels distant now. Takes its time establishing mood rather than rushing to plot.

Assault on Precinct 131976

John Carpenter's siege thriller about criminals and cops forced into alliance. Shares Bone's interest in how desperation breaks down social boundaries and creates strange intimacies.

But Minuscule budget shows in the dialogue and acting. Some scenes feel stagey or awkward.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie1976

Ben Gazzara and John Cassavetes in a film about debt, humiliation, and the terrible choices of men in over their heads. Messy, uncomfortable, brutally real—a masterclass in tonal unease.

But Deliberately slow and repetitive in places. Grim subject matter with no soft landing.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Bone

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Killing1956

Both are genre films disguised as intimate character studies—the heist or invasion is just the frame for watching how people behave when the system fails them.

Kubrick's debut, where a racetrack heist splinters across time and perspective. A criminal plan meeting civilian life meeting chaos. The structure itself enacts how disruption ripples outward.

But Fractured timeline can feel confusing on first watch. Some dated sexism in how women are written. Black-and-white and lean on characterization.

Panic Room2002

Jodie Foster and Dwight Yoakam trapped in a house together during a home invasion. Confined, pressured, the walls closing in—it understands that proximity breeds complexity.

But Plot has plot-holes. Sometimes prioritizes action and spectacle over character mystery.

After Dark, My Sweet1990

Jason Patric, Rachel Ward, and Bruce Dern in a noir-pulp triangle of desperation and desire. Understands how quickly circumstances can twist people into shapes they don't recognize.

But Obscure and hard to find. Tonal shifts may feel uneven on first viewing.

Rififi1955

Masterly French heist film where a criminal becomes entangled in the lives of everyday people. Shares Bone's fascination with how crime disrupts the order of ordinary households.

But The famous 30-minute silent heist sequence, while brilliant, may test your patience if you want dialogue and plot momentum.

Body Heat1981

William Hurt and Kathleen Turner in a modern noir about desire destroying judgment. Like Bone, it understands the dark comedy of watching smart people make catastrophic decisions.

But Very '80s in look and feel. The plot, if you think about it after, has logical holes.

Performance.1970

Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg's hallucinogenic thriller about a gangster hiding in a rock star's home. Genuinely weird, psychedelic, and uninterested in reassuring you about anything.

But Genuinely difficult to parse. Mick Jagger's acting is... experimental. Some will find it pretentious dreck.

The Bedroom Window1987

Steve Guttenberg caught in a spider's web of lies and circumstance. Competent thriller that knows how ordinary people spiral when the normal rules stop applying.

But Totally forgotten and for a reason—it's solid but unmemorable, a comfortable ride with no real surprise.

Eating Raoul1982

Two films about marriage and crime that refuse to separate the domestic from the criminal—they're the same story told from both sides.

A married couple kills swingers for money. Deadpan, pitch-black, never winking. Paul Bartel directs this as genuine suburban tragedy, not satire—and that's what makes it brilliant and horrible.

But Rape, graphic violence, and deliberate ugliness throughout. Some find it too contemptible to enjoy. Extremely low-budget means aesthetic harshness.

Branded to Kill1967

Both operate in the space where genre thrills meet intimate psychological breakdown; both treat crime as less interesting than the character who commits it.

Japanese pulp—a hit man, betrayal, marriage, surreal violence. Obsessive camera work and a visual fever dream. Watched Bone's era from another continent and made something stranger.

But Subtitled and deliberately obscure about its own logic. Pacing is hypnotic but dreamlike—not thrilling. Female characters largely decorative or symbolic.