Gorgeous to look at but emotionally empty, this caper comedy has good-looking stars in Burt Reynolds and Lesley Ann Downe, but little action until the end. Like the map of where this takes place, this film goes all over the place and its story of two jewel thieves, with one (Downe) being payed by agent David Niven to get the goods on Reynolds in order to drop the previous charges against her. Beating the daughter of a political bigwig, she's forced to agree but their affair becomes too hot, making her reluctant to betray him.
With so many other Caper films that were too good compared to this, the weakness of this film and its lack of consistency becomes too obviousfar too fast. In order to have a really good film, not only do you need great stars with great chemistry (which they do have) but a clear-cut story and direction that doesn't look like the road map that all of the participants in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" took.
There are also far too many incidental characters that gets the film further off track, including Nazi criminals that have their own plane with the schwasticker on it. Apparently, trouble in pre-production got the script all messed up, and with producer David Merrick too busy on Broadway and several different directors involved, that led to a messy post production which ultimately leads to the film being as flawed as it is. Still, it's a passable time filler, and the three stars (basically playing themselves) eating it greatly thanks to their charm.
With so many other Caper films that were too good compared to this, the weakness of this film and its lack of consistency becomes too obviousfar too fast. In order to have a really good film, not only do you need great stars with great chemistry (which they do have) but a clear-cut story and direction that doesn't look like the road map that all of the participants in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" took.
There are also far too many incidental characters that gets the film further off track, including Nazi criminals that have their own plane with the schwasticker on it. Apparently, trouble in pre-production got the script all messed up, and with producer David Merrick too busy on Broadway and several different directors involved, that led to a messy post production which ultimately leads to the film being as flawed as it is. Still, it's a passable time filler, and the three stars (basically playing themselves) eating it greatly thanks to their charm.