Review of How to Steal a Million (1966) by Scott D — 01 Dec 2007

Made in 1966, this is a genteel entry in the caper genre much like [i]To Catch A Thief. [/i]I love a good caper movie - [i]The Sting, The Concrete Jungle, The Italian Job[/i] remake, [i]The Score, [/i]when done right can have you on the edge of your seat. This one relies mostly upon Audrey Hepburn & Peter O'Toole for charm. I'm not one who gets taken by those enormous Bambi eyes of Audrey's - her first scene is rather amusing as she's wearing Harry Caray-style sunglasses while listening to the radio news when one item captures her attention, she takes them off and her own eyes are open almost as wide. In fact, O'Toole's first scene shows him peering his bright blues in full closeup over the frame of a painting; William Wyler sure knew how to play his stars' strengths. Both actors have class and set against a sumptuous backdrop of Parisian society life.

The caper itself, stealing a statue from an art gallery, has a couple mild innovations - I always want to see a new, ingenoius way to defeat the alarm system, you never know when you might find yourself locked in a South American prison. One gimmick with a boomerang was absurd, but they incorporated a nice plot twist - a good caper always has one of those too. At LEAST one.