Das Mädchen aus der Cherry-Bar

Note! Minor plot points to be discussed. Proceed at your own risk.

One of my favourite genres - the caper movie! In most caper movies, the plan goes perfectly, at least until the heist is over. However, this one is probably unique as the careful plans of our chief thief, Michael Caine, keep going horribly horribly wrong, and right from the beginning to boot. Shirley MacLaine as his female accomplice and Herbert Lom as the "unwitting" victim are allowed their full range of intelligence and emotion as move follows countermove and bad descends to worse. The final plot twist at the end preserves a happy ending for everyone. Definitely worth a look, if you can find a copy or its playing late night.

Minor fun featuring Shirley MacLaine as a cabaret dancer who gets a chance to become a key player in a major heist masterminded by thief extraordinaire-wannabe Michael Caine. It has lots of twists and surprises, and it's fun, but the sleek, more serious opening moments prepare you for a totally different picture then the one you eventually get. It seems as though this is going to be classy stuff at first, but it's just a daffy live-action cartoon. Energetic though, and the leads work well together. *** from ****

Michael Caine and Shirley Maclaine star in "Gambit," a 1966 movie done in the style so popular in that era, the "caper" film.

Inspired by the success and style of "Charade," the '60s brought us "How to Steal a Million," "Topkapi," "Rififi" et al. - sophisticated, glamorous, international, breezy fun.

In "Gambit," Harry (Michael Caine) hires Nicole (Maclaine) to pose as his exotic wife so that he can get into the apartment of the richest man in the world, Shabhandar, played by Herbert Lom.

"There's no such thing as the richest man in the world," Nicole complains. "It's like the highest star or - " "Okay, the second richest man in the world, the third richest!" Harry yells. Nicole is made up to resemble Shabhandar's late wife. The purpose: robbery.

Without giving anything away, the beginning of the film is fabulous and draws the viewer in immediately. Caine is a riot as the gifted Harry, who finds that coping with Nicole is one part of the plan he hadn't counted on, and Maclaine is very funny as a performer who gets more involved in her assignment than she wanted to.

Herbert Lom, as the first, second, whatever wealthiest man in the world, Shabhandar, is perfect portraying the urbane, suspicious, and calculating recluse.

This isn't the top of the genre, but it's still very enjoyable.

I just watched this again, after a period of many years; I think that I must have seen it in its original release, and it would have seemed wildly glamorous and exotic at the time. Its always been a favorite of mine; I love it when MacLaine finally opens her mouth and starts talking, and the entire story tilts and veers off in an amusingly different direction.

So very many things could have gone wrong with this production, and MacLaine could have completely overwhelmed it. Miraculously, everything stays in harness and no scenery gets chewed (as opposed to, say, "Topkapi", which although fun goes completely over the top, and where Mercouri lustily devours everything in sight). Caine and MacLaine were both in their early 30's at the time, and MacLaine gets away with photographing much younger. Its one of the earliest of her films where she got top billing; she had been making a series of Hollywood big-budget bombs, and I suspect that this somewhat modest entry kind of redeemed her. Its great straight entertainment.

Michael Caine uses flighty Shirley MacLaine to hopefully steal something from Herbert Lom--the richest man in the world.

That's about all you need to know. This is a fun movie--nothing too serious about it. It's very colorful with some beautiful settings and outfits (get the white dress MacLaine wears). The script is sharp and sometimes very funny. MacLaine is full of life and fun in her role--quite an accomplishment since she has nothing to work with. Caine (a great actor) seems strangely muted in his role. Lom is having a fun time with his part. The comedy mixes very well with the action (MacLaine comes off best) and there are some really neat twists and turns at the end (although I saw the last one coming). This isn't an acting film--just a film to sit back with, turn off your brain and enjoy! Strangely this is pretty unknown--I didn't even now it existed till it turned up on TV unannounced! Well worth catching.