The film is based upon the character Bookie Bob who was in several of Damon Runyon's short stories.
Three small time punters attempt to put the squeeze on Bookie Bob, Oscar winner, Rod Steiger. Tipped off by Bob's restless wife, Tara Fitzgerald, the kidnapping hoods are seduced by the master craft of Bookie Bob, ultimately falling prey to his classic reverse con.

C a s t

Rod Steiger as Bookie Bob
Tara Fitzgerald as Bob's wife
Crofton Hardester
Sam Douglas
Martin McDougal

Production Credits

Director John Sharian
Producer Philip Robertson & Richard Wingfield
Editor Anuree De Silva
Screen Writer John Sharian
Director of Photography Danny Cohen
Sound Tony Parkinson
Music John Altman
Produced by Odds on Film
Sales Agent Greenlight Films Ltd

Review

The Snatching of Bookie Bob was a film "short" with a duration of 19½ minutes which was produced in 1999 by Greenlight Films (now defunct) of London, and directed by John Sharian.
It was very loosely based upon the short story by Damon Runyon, and although there was no real part for a female in the original short story, one was constructed so that Tara could lend her name to the production -- Tara was romantically involved with John Sharian at the time. Rod Steiger played the title role, and he must have been very hungry at the time -- a reference to the famous quote by Sir Laurence Olivier. Apparently the film was really bad, because it was never released.
I checked with the British Council, an organization which encourages and promotes this type of material, and although they had a record of the film being made, they were unable to provide any additional information. A telephone call to Greenlight Films indicated that the telephone number was no longer in service, and mail to their former address was returned as undeliverable. To my knowledge, the film was only shown once, at The Bristol Short Film Festival of 2000.

review courtesy Brian Murray