Purusing the reviews (both critical, from the time, and present day amateur viewers), I wasn't really expecting much outside your typical late 60's comedy caper, and what a thrill I got. The opening shot over the mountains panning into a remote cemetery, the over-the-top mourning and Vittorio de Sica's conversation in the town car with Robert Wagner, Geoffrey Cambridge and others, and the revelation that he was being kidnapped. Finally, the entrance of Raquel Welch as Wagner's girlfriend and soon the revelation that none of his family and friends were willing to pay to get de Sica back.
All the while, I kept hearing the beautiful opening theme song sung by Johnny Mathis in my ears, and waiting for the arrival of the legendary Edward G. Robinson, playing an expert on large heists going back to the Capone days. Right up Little Caesar's alley. After Wagner refuses de Sica'a sad request to kill him ("Squish me like a fly!"), he offers them an opportunity to make lots of money by planning the robbery of platinum ingots from a train, and the caper is off and running, and delightful.
Perhaps it's the mood of the film, lighthearted and frequently silly, so it was a change of pace from what I'd been watching. Welch doesn't get much to do outside of just being sensual, and Wagner is playing a similar kind of character I'd already been used to seeing him as. But de Sica is great, and Robinson's always commanding. A funny scene between de Sica and Yvonne Sanson as a conquest of his he attempts to steal jewels from had me chortling aloud. Lively, stylish and fun, and nostalgic for the kind of film they haven't made in decades.
All the while, I kept hearing the beautiful opening theme song sung by Johnny Mathis in my ears, and waiting for the arrival of the legendary Edward G. Robinson, playing an expert on large heists going back to the Capone days. Right up Little Caesar's alley. After Wagner refuses de Sica'a sad request to kill him ("Squish me like a fly!"), he offers them an opportunity to make lots of money by planning the robbery of platinum ingots from a train, and the caper is off and running, and delightful.
Perhaps it's the mood of the film, lighthearted and frequently silly, so it was a change of pace from what I'd been watching. Welch doesn't get much to do outside of just being sensual, and Wagner is playing a similar kind of character I'd already been used to seeing him as. But de Sica is great, and Robinson's always commanding. A funny scene between de Sica and Yvonne Sanson as a conquest of his he attempts to steal jewels from had me chortling aloud. Lively, stylish and fun, and nostalgic for the kind of film they haven't made in decades.