"Seven Thieves" is an early example of the "caper film", a genre which was to become increasingly popular during the sixties. Such films tell the story of a robbery, but differ from the traditional heist movie in that they tell that story in a lighthearted way and from a viewpoint sympathetic to the criminals. The amorality of the genre is evident from its name, the word "caper" suggesting that robbery is a jolly escapade rather than a serious crime likely to earn its perpetrators a lengthy jail sentence. This film was directed by the very versatile Henry Hathaway, who could turn his hand to various types of action movie, including war films, Westerns and film noir.
Theo Wilkins, a former university professor who seems to have lost his tenure when he turned from academic pursuits to criminal ones, plans to steal a fortune in banknotes from the underground vaults of the casino in Monte Carlo, Monaco. He puts together a team of "seven thieves" to carry out his scheme. The other six are his young protégé, Paul Mason, who has just been released from a jail sentence, Louis, a safecracker, Hugo, the team's "heavy" and getaway driver, Raymond, a casino employee who can provide inside information, Raymond's girlfriend Melanie, an "exotic dancer", and Pancho, an actor who will create a diversion allowing the others to strike. ("Exotic dancer" is really a euphemism for stripper, but in the early sixties there was a limit to how far striptease could go in the cinema; Joan Collins shows a pair of shapely legs, but nothing more).
The plot has certain similarities to that of the original "Ocean's Eleven", which also came out in 1960. Both films feature an American criminal mastermind who comes up with a plan to rob a casino (or, in the case of "Ocean's Eleven", five casinos) and to that end puts together a team of specialists. Both films have titles which relate to the number of members in that team. It is perhaps significant that in both cases the victims of the crime are casinos. In 1960 there was a widely held view that casinos, at that time illegal in 49 out of 50 American states, were immoral institutions which carried out a legalised form of robbery by exploiting human weakness. (This view has never completely gone away, although it is probably less widespread today). Many people, therefore, would have tended to have greater sympathy with casino thieves than they would with, say, bank robbers. Banks may be large, impersonal institutions, but they money in their vaults represents the savings of many ordinary people.
This does not mean that the makers of "caper films" could simply show the thieves getting away with it. The Production Code, which forbade the depiction of criminals succeeding in their enterprises, remained in force until 1967. (The reviewer who called the ending of this film "laughably anticlimactic" was presumably unaware of this). Such film-makers, however, did not normally want to end their films with their heroes being arrested by the cops, so caper films often had ingenious endings, devised so that nobody went to jail but nobody ended up getting rich on the proceeds of crime either. "Seven Thieves" observes this pattern; if you want further details you'll have to watch the movie itself. This tradition continued even after 1967- the famous cliffhanging ending of "The Italian Job", made in 1969, is a good example- but appears to have died out in more recent years. Both "Entrapment" from 1999 and the 2001 remake of "Ocean's Eleven" end with the criminals succeeding.
Edward G. Robinson occasionally played the good guy (as in, for example, "Double Indemnity"), but he was better known to cinema audiences as a bad guy. Here he plays a criminal, but his Theo is not a ruthless villain of the sort he played in films like "Key Largo". Because this is a caper movie, the mastermind of the robbery has to have some redeeming features. Theo may be dishonest, but he is not violent- his plan does not involve any of the casino staff being killed, injured or even threatened- and he seems genuinely fond of Paul (who is later revealed to be his son). The "method" actor Rod Steiger as Paul, however, seems too heavy and serious for what is essentially a light comedy-drama.
For me, one weakness of this film, and of the genre to which it belongs, is that it is based on the sort of moral code that will not bear too close scrutiny. The main rule of heist movies is that the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" does not apply in situations where no-one gets hurt and where the victims are large corporations or hugely wealthy individuals. The contrived endings of heist movies from the sixties always strike me as very arch, a cynical nod in the direction of morality to keep the censors happy. Yet despite its dubious ethics, "Entrapment" is generally enjoyable. It is slick and fast-moving with an ingenious plot and does not take itself too seriously. 7/10.
Theo Wilkins, a former university professor who seems to have lost his tenure when he turned from academic pursuits to criminal ones, plans to steal a fortune in banknotes from the underground vaults of the casino in Monte Carlo, Monaco. He puts together a team of "seven thieves" to carry out his scheme. The other six are his young protégé, Paul Mason, who has just been released from a jail sentence, Louis, a safecracker, Hugo, the team's "heavy" and getaway driver, Raymond, a casino employee who can provide inside information, Raymond's girlfriend Melanie, an "exotic dancer", and Pancho, an actor who will create a diversion allowing the others to strike. ("Exotic dancer" is really a euphemism for stripper, but in the early sixties there was a limit to how far striptease could go in the cinema; Joan Collins shows a pair of shapely legs, but nothing more).
The plot has certain similarities to that of the original "Ocean's Eleven", which also came out in 1960. Both films feature an American criminal mastermind who comes up with a plan to rob a casino (or, in the case of "Ocean's Eleven", five casinos) and to that end puts together a team of specialists. Both films have titles which relate to the number of members in that team. It is perhaps significant that in both cases the victims of the crime are casinos. In 1960 there was a widely held view that casinos, at that time illegal in 49 out of 50 American states, were immoral institutions which carried out a legalised form of robbery by exploiting human weakness. (This view has never completely gone away, although it is probably less widespread today). Many people, therefore, would have tended to have greater sympathy with casino thieves than they would with, say, bank robbers. Banks may be large, impersonal institutions, but they money in their vaults represents the savings of many ordinary people.
This does not mean that the makers of "caper films" could simply show the thieves getting away with it. The Production Code, which forbade the depiction of criminals succeeding in their enterprises, remained in force until 1967. (The reviewer who called the ending of this film "laughably anticlimactic" was presumably unaware of this). Such film-makers, however, did not normally want to end their films with their heroes being arrested by the cops, so caper films often had ingenious endings, devised so that nobody went to jail but nobody ended up getting rich on the proceeds of crime either. "Seven Thieves" observes this pattern; if you want further details you'll have to watch the movie itself. This tradition continued even after 1967- the famous cliffhanging ending of "The Italian Job", made in 1969, is a good example- but appears to have died out in more recent years. Both "Entrapment" from 1999 and the 2001 remake of "Ocean's Eleven" end with the criminals succeeding.
Edward G. Robinson occasionally played the good guy (as in, for example, "Double Indemnity"), but he was better known to cinema audiences as a bad guy. Here he plays a criminal, but his Theo is not a ruthless villain of the sort he played in films like "Key Largo". Because this is a caper movie, the mastermind of the robbery has to have some redeeming features. Theo may be dishonest, but he is not violent- his plan does not involve any of the casino staff being killed, injured or even threatened- and he seems genuinely fond of Paul (who is later revealed to be his son). The "method" actor Rod Steiger as Paul, however, seems too heavy and serious for what is essentially a light comedy-drama.
For me, one weakness of this film, and of the genre to which it belongs, is that it is based on the sort of moral code that will not bear too close scrutiny. The main rule of heist movies is that the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" does not apply in situations where no-one gets hurt and where the victims are large corporations or hugely wealthy individuals. The contrived endings of heist movies from the sixties always strike me as very arch, a cynical nod in the direction of morality to keep the censors happy. Yet despite its dubious ethics, "Entrapment" is generally enjoyable. It is slick and fast-moving with an ingenious plot and does not take itself too seriously. 7/10.