Un hold-up extraordinaire

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 ****

Gambit (1966)

I love both Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine, and yet I went into the movie with low expectations. Maybe this was partly the dull poster art (which is all I had to go on), or just the fact I had never heard of the movie (and I see a lot of movies from this era).

And it was really good! Yes, a fun, snappy, somewhat contrived but still engaging piece of very 1960s entertainment.

It begins with a narrative trick, which I can't reveal, but the first twenty minutes is a kind of set-up or reference point for the next hour. Once you see it happen, it's a big laugh, and they actors play it out well, though with a slight bit of camp. Caine plays a thief and con man, and MacLaine is just a willing and slightly naive participant. At first.

We are supposed to believe, as well, that these two young charming people are not made for each other (they act disinterested), but the love story becomes a small part of the situation. The third main actor is Herbert Lom, who plays an Arab connected to oil (this is several years before the oil embargo, and more than a decade before the first big Islamic uprising, the one in Iran in 1979). He happens to be the richest man in the world. And a target for this British man looking for easy success.

Easy it is, if only things were what they seemed at first. Brightly lit, photographed with verve and acted with a kind of wink to the camera, the movie is just good fun. This isn't a drama, it's a comedy, and it will brighten your day even if you have to ignore the forced twists in the plot.

Michael Caine had just finished filming the astonishing "Alfie" which is both funny and truly dramatic, and he was proving to be a complex and yet still caddishly likable leading man, very British. Shirley MacLaine (an American) had been making charming funny movies for some time, playing the cute and vulnerable "girl" over and over (as in "The Apartment" best of all, but see "Irma la Douce" too, where she is a prostitute). Together here they are really well matched and hold up the movie start to finish.

Remember to make it through the "set-up" part of the movie, which will at first seem a little stiff. It makes sense later!

MICHAEL CAINE was hot after appearing in THE IPCRESS FILE and SHIRLEY MacLAINE grabbed him for her leading man in GAMBIT. It's a highly entertaining and very clever crime caper and is Caine's first American film. It benefits from highly polished production values and Ronald Neame's expert direction, not to mention a story that has several unexpected twists.

Aside from excellent performances by the two stars and Herbert Lom as the intended victim, the plot will keep you guessing until the final moments. Shirley is a knockout in her oriental disguise and delivers a wonderful performance as the girl who discovers she prefers an honest man to a thief, no matter how much she let herself be tricked into the role of a charming look-alike for Herbert Lom's former wife. The trick is to get into his lavish digs so she and Michael can see the layout and devise a plan to steal a prized sculpture. Herbert Lom is urbane and sophisticated as a man who is highly suspicious of his new acquaintances.

If you like crime capers or jewel heists, this is for you. Diverting from start to finish with a particularly good opening sequence that sort of sets you up for a different kind of film than this actually is. But saying more than that would give too much away.

My only complaint--Maurice Jarre's score is a skimpy one. He provides some light and catchy melodies for the lighter scenes but fails to deliver the goods for the film's darker moments. Maybe he figured the audience would just be holding their breath while silence accompanied the cat-like burglar approach rather than music. Whatever, the darker moments would have been heightened by a more suspenseful score.

John Abbott is seen to advantage as a French sculptor devoted to his art.

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.