• Light and airy—Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine carry this heist caper into the archives (by a thin margin)
  • Notable for the false star surreal opening where they pull off the heist to perfection (MacLaine doesn’t speak for the first 29 minutes). It’s a dream—and the rest of the film is reality (where the heist doesn’t go as smooth and is funny)
  • MacLaine is stunning here- at her most beautiful
  • Apparently MacLaine (at the height of her star-power clout in 1966) hand-picked Caine and brought him over across the pond for his first Hollywood film. The poster is interesting- it teases the opening of the film and refers to him as “Alfie”—and Caine is good here- smooth.
  • A strong Maurice Jarre score- it riffs a little on the Doctor Zhivago score from the previous year
  • MacLaine and Caine clearly have good chemistry here
  • Neame is no Hitchcock for the long silent caper sequences—he’s not even Wyler (who also made a 1966 caper How to Steal a Million)
  • No major artist achievement- the ending is a little weak as Caine’s character turns pretty easily given his motives the previous hour 75 minutes
  • Recommend