Love Among Thieves

I enjoy this movie more each time I watch it. It at it has all of the elements that make for a good romantic comedy.

The main characters - portrayed on the one hand by the inimitable Audrey Hepburn and on the other by the still sleek Robert Wagner -are as lively and believable as ever. We are given as a bonus the added abilities of Jerry Orbach as the mysterious bad - good guy.

All of the elements of the classic romantic comedy are in evidence here.

There is a great cast. There is incisive and clever dialogue. There is the element of danger without being so dramatic that one forgets that one is watching a comedy. There is the hate / love relationship that develops, with the viewers permission, into a love / hate and then a love only relationship.

Best yet it is all folded up in the course of an almost unbelievable story. Surely the mark of a good Romance.

The class and style of Audrey Hepburn and Robert Wagner make this an enjoyable lark. The plot and writing are weak, but Hepburn's smile and style are captivating. Wagner obviously enjoy being Hepburn's foil - and flirting with her in the process.

This film was made for television and the night it first aired it had great ratings for viewers, because Audrey Hepburn was in it (one of her, by then, very rare appearances). The critics disliked the whole thing, but apparently because of their fondness for Miss Hepburn they ne'er said a critical thing about her in their reviews.

Well, I saw the film recently and I thought it was pretty good, as far as television movies go. Sure, she looked older than she had in 'Robin And Marion'. She was older. But she still retained some degree of her on-screen charm unmatched by any other actor. I truly enjoyed the film for all the minutes that she graced the screen, and they kept the camera trained on her quite a bit.

This film was touted as a 'Charade' type sort of comedy/caper involving some stolen Fabergé Eggs. What ensues is a tale typical of a Hepburn caper vehicle, with Robert Wagner thrown in to boot. I never liked Wagner until I saw this. He actually was quite a leading man, and although aging, he held his own as far as charm and sophistication went. He and Hepburn should have teamed up much earlier than this flick.

What a wonderful ,caring person, Audrey to appear in this film (according to some biographers she may have agreed to do it so that her long-time agent Kurt Frings, who was now ailing, could collect his $75,000 fee from her). This was her last 'feature starring role' and one of only a trio of television drama appearances. I was lucky enough to see this one, now I'm praying that they release 'Mayerling' on DVD soon.

If you get a chance you must check this one out. It's a fun film, not meant to be an Emmy chaser. Just good Ole' clean fun.

LOVE AMONG THIEVES is by and large the last bonafide Audrey Hepburn film, much to the chagrin of many fans who, depending on their opinion of her later work, usually feel her swan song should have been ROBIN AND MARIAN in 1976. I myself rather liked THEY ALL LAUGHED, the film Hepburn made six years before this one, so I do not entirely agree that she made nothing worthy of her after the 70s. That being said, LOVE AMONG THIEVES does leave a lot of be desired.

The story is unabashedly light and airy. It clearly acts as a homage movie, referencing lots of Hepburn's former work, particularly CHARADE. In fact, the plot lifts a lot from CHARADE, even whole sections of dialogue, a gimmick that got old quickly. Unlike CHARADE, the movie does not balance out its romantic comedy with suspense well; the villains are never particularly threatening. Sometimes, they're downright incompetent.

However, this movie is so unpretentious and even easygoing that it's hard to dislike it. Hepburn and Robert Wagner don't have the best romantic chemistry, but they play their roles well and with tongue firmly in cheek. Had Hepburn's last film been the dreadful BLOODLINE, I would lament. In that regard, we are lucky. I would have have preferred her final film been something more clever or grand, but as far as that goes, LOVE AMONG THIEVES, slight and silly as it is, will have to do.

Audrey Hepburn was in very few films in the 80's. This was the worst of the lot. At the start Audrey steals some treasures from a museum and is later inolved with a host of characters that have some interest in her loot. The acting was mediocre. The plot was predictable and boring.