Characters
Griffin Bing ("The Brains"): "The man with the plan" is what his friend calls him, because he always seems to have a plan for everything. His father has made a fruit-picking invention, but it has bankrupted the family. As Griffin and his friend Ben are out in the Old Rockford House having a sleepover, he finds what looks like an old, rare Babe Ruth baseball card. He sees this as his family's way out of debt. He tries to sell it to S. Wendell, but is told that it is fake. He goes home very depressed, and finds S. Wendell on TV saying that he has come across a rare baseball card and is selling it for millions. Griffin, boiling with anger, gathers his friends and makes a plan to get the card back. When describing Swindle and figuring out the password to his house, he says, "I think we are dealing with an old nerd, too." (73). Ben's dad says that he's an old nerd because he remembers something from Star-Trek that had the number 1701, which is the number that they were looking for.
Ben Slovak ("The Best Friend"): He is Griffin's best friend, and he was with him when they find the card, when they are swindled out of it, and when they steal it back. He says, "Don't tell jokes! I never told anybody about this. I have narcolepsy." (159), and almost ruins the whole plan by falling asleep. He is also a very nervous kid. He is hesitant and ambivalent. He always questions Griffin's plans.
Savannah Drysdale ("The Animal-whisperer"): Savannah is an animal lover. She can tame and talk to virtually any animal. She has a pet monkey. Her role in the break-in is to distract the Luthor, the vicious dog out front. The dog grows to love her, and she takes him home. She is a vital part of this plan. She came with for the first try, but she just couldn't tame the beast. It turns out that Luthor just needed more love, and on the second go-around, she had him. Afterwards, she took Luthor home.
The Savannah in the movie is very very different from the Savannah in the book. I suggest reading the book first.
The Savannah in the movie is very very different from the Savannah in the book. I suggest reading the book first.
Melissa Dukakis ("The Hacker"): She can hack into anything. Her job is to get Swindle out of the house for a few hours. She hacks Swindle's email and, well, definitely gets him out of the house. She says that with the money, "I could buy a state-of-the-art computer!" (123). Without Melissa, this whole plan could not work. There are two very important steps that have to happen:
1. Luthor must be tamed
2. Swindle must be out of the house.
She is the only person that Griffin and Ben know that can do that.
1. Luthor must be tamed
2. Swindle must be out of the house.
She is the only person that Griffin and Ben know that can do that.
Antonia "Pitch" Benson: The way that they will be breaking in is through the skylight, but someone has to get up there first, so that the rest can climb up with a rope. That is where Pitch comes in. She is an avid climber. In the first attempt to break in, she wasn't with, and they tried to figure out what the password for the keypad on the front door was. When she joined, they knew that she could give them a special advantage: a new entrance. What she says she wants to do with the her share is, "I could take my family climbing at Yosemite!" (124).
Darren Vader ("The Muscle"): Darren is the one who does all the heavy lifting and later serves to be a vital part of the team. They weren't even planning on having Darren come along, but he found out what they were doing, and they had to let him join, so that they wouldn't tell Swindle. Besides, they needed the muscle. Someone had to raise and lower people through the skylight, so Griffin let him join the team.
Logan Kellerman ("The Actor"): His job is to distract Eli Mulroney, the old man who lives across the street. If Eli notices that something is going on at the Museum across the street, he will call the police in seconds. Luckily for the group, Logan is a talented actor, and can easily talk with Eli for hours, as long as nothing goes wrong. The way he starts to get Eli interested to talk with him is backgammon. Melissa printed off a fake sticker to put on a package with a bunch of board games in them. Logan, then, went to Eli's house, 530 Park Avenue Extension, and said that he lived on 530 University and this package was shipped to him accidentally. After that, he would put his acting skills to use.
All of the Character pictures came from imdb, because there was a movie made of this book, but, unfortunately, Logan was left out of the movie. Therefore, there is no picture of Logan.
All of the Character pictures came from imdb, because there was a movie made of this book, but, unfortunately, Logan was left out of the movie. Therefore, there is no picture of Logan.
All of the above pictures: "Swindle Character pictures". Photograph. n.d. Swindle (TV Movie 2013). Imdb. Web. 14 Oct 2013.