Gambit (1966)
Gambit (1966), directed by Ronald Neame.
First review
A heist film that is also a satire on heist films. I suppose that has become pretty common these days. The first half hour is the trick setup: the caper perfectly imagined, the cunning plan that goes like clockwork. Then we have the real execution, messy and comical.
It's pretty leisurely paced, although a final segment of stealing the precious artifact is more exciting. They've been talking about a remake for years; I suppose that will be more action oriented. [Later: Gambit (2012), written by the Coen brothers, starring Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz and Alan Rickman. All comedy, not very well liked].
I don't think Herbert Lom has gotten the appreciation he deserves. The setup gives all three main characters the chance to play two roles: we have both the stiff fantasy and the screwball reality.
This was Michael Caine's first American picture. Shirley MacLaine got to choose her leading man and she wanted him. His autobiography describes his sudden fame and star-struck wonder at being dropped into Hollywood. One day he's just hanging around the hotel because he doesn't know anyone, the next he's flying in Frank Sinatra's jet and dating his daughter, Nancy.
Maurice Jarre score, too whimsical in the serious setup.
Universal Vault Series, available for rent from ClassicFlix.
Second review
Some additional notes and new thumbnails from the Kino Blu-ray.
Things we loved in the 1960s: cunning plans, insouciant burglars, athletic prowess in scaling buildings.
Mastermind Michael Caine becomes the main object of our comedy, all his self-confident plans gone awry, but he is never a clown. He stays cool under stress and keeps moving forward with his heist. Caine wanted to bring real Cockney to film: notice how he uses the accent to bring out honest emotion. But damn: those eyelashes.
Shirley MacLaine shows us the dancer a couple of times. She was a power in Hollywood then and the production was arranged to suit her. Neame describes her as "the female Walter Matthau", always telling jokes and entertaining the crew.
Herbert Lom is kind of lovable here. Richest man in the world, not at all as expected, quite shrewd and unexpectedly kind in the end.
Again: it is great that the leads get to do their parts twice, once as figments of the imagination and again in the real world.
Everyone says it was a happy production, no conflict at all. It was MacLaine's idea to cut all of her lines in the first half hour.
I can't help shouting out names when I see actors who appeared in the original Star Trek series: Arnold Moss (mass murderer Anton Karidian in "The Conscience of the King"), John Abbott (superbeing Ayelborne in "Errand of Mercy") and Roger C. Carmel (Harry Mudd twice!).
Available on Blu-ray from Kino with two commentary tracks:
Effusive praise from Howard S. Berger, Sergio Mims and Nathaniel Thompson. They say Michael Caine's "Harry Deane" is like a film director: the story in his mind and the film that results are not at all the same thing. And the actors have a lot to do with that.
Stories by director Ronald Neame at around age 98. (Talking about his investments: "I should have died at 90").
Neame says he would remove 20 minutes to make it more palatable to modern audiences, who expect quicker cutting and a faster pace.
He offers this insight: in the old days the camera was supposed to be invisible and one took great pains to hide camera movement and editing cuts. Since then the viewer had identified with the camera and is meant to be conscious of all its movements and effects. Cutting and pacing became faster but the pendulum has swung too far, leaving no space for story or character development.
