Vincent Canby, in a negative review for "The New York Times", said the movie looked like it had "just surfaced after being buried alive for 20 years". He said that Redford and Poitier looked and acted too old. He said the plot was "feeble," and that the movie was "jokey without being funny, breathless without creating suspense". He calls the ensemble an "all star gang," but says the "performances are generally quite bad." It currently holds an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 47 reviews with an average rating of 6.8/10.