The Mastermind

James Blaine Mooney, the self‑styled “mastermind,” finally sees his fantasy crumble. After the daring daylight theft of several Arthur Dove canvases, the police are tipped off when Ronnie Gibson, the one‑handed gunman who helped pull the job, is arrested for an unrelated bank robbery and confesses that James had been the brains behind the art heist. That confession sends detectives to James’s doorstep, but without a warrant they can only question him while his world begins to fall apart.

At the same time, the local gang that Guy Hickey has been talking to learns the whereabouts of the stolen works. They force James to reveal the hidden stash on his family’s farm and then take the paintings for themselves, leaving James with nothing but a ruined reputation. His parents, especially his judge father, dismiss the crime as amateurish, and his wife Terry, oblivious to the whole scheme, is forced to flee with their children to stay with relatives. James watches his son Tommy, confused and scared, as police men haul him away, underscoring how his reckless pride has cost his family dearly.

Desperate and penniless, James tries to hop from one friend’s house to another, hoping to find a way out. He is turned away by Maude, a former classmate, and even his old college buddy Fred, who admired the audacity of the plan, forces him out. With no money for a legitimate escape, he steals a purse on a street protest and eventually boards a bus that is heading toward the Canadian border, hoping to hide in a commune his friend mentions.

The film’s closing scene shows James caught up in a massive anti‑war demonstration. Police swarm the crowd, arresting everyone indiscriminately, and James is hauled in alongside the protesters. He protests his innocence, insisting he had nothing to do with the political rally, but the officers are uninterested. In that moment his own self‑crafted illusion of being a clever, untouchable mastermind is stripped away; his privilege cannot shield him from the consequences of his own folly. The ending leaves him detained, the stolen paintings gone, his family shattered, and the audience with the stark reminder that his hubris has finally caught up with him.

Last Updated: January 05, 2026 at 08:31