Un casse pour des clous

Jacques (Richard Harrison) is hired to steal a diamond worth $3 million. He puts together a crew - you know, an electronics expert, a safe guy, etc - the usual assortment of characters you'd put together to steal a heavily guarded, valuable diamond. Through all of their planning, Jacques and the others determine that once inside, they'll have 28 minutes (hence the title) to get the diamond and get out. Can they do it?

I like a good 60s-era Euro-heist film. 28 Minutes for 3 Million Dollars, while nowhere near as good as something like Grand Slam or some others I've seen, is a decent enough example of the genre. The plan to steal the diamond isn't as elaborate or as "serious" as some other heist films I"ve seen, but there's enough here to make it enjoyable. Taking a nod no doubt from the granddaddy of heist films, Rififi, much of the actual heist is carried out in complete silence. A nice touch. A little more drama from an inquisitive guard, for example, would have created some additional badly needed tension and a better overall film. The ending is a bit silly, but what do you expect? These guys never get away with it.

Over the past few years, I've really come to enjoy Richard Harrison, When you get him away from Sword and Sandal films, he's got a flair about him that works in the more modern settings. He's in good form here and is easily the star of the movie. The rest of the cast is workmanlike at best with no one really standing out.