Les hommes de Las Vegas

Love the red 1966 Chevy Covair COSA covertible in the desert. Later we see it parked in front of the courthouse where they call it a 1964- I don't think so. . Thus film does give a pretty good ' snapshot ' of the Las Vegas and Los Angeles of the late sixties. Elke is super good and has to submit the routes on computer punch cards! It has a lot of gadgets and taoe recodte3 and video screens presaging the future. That Gary Lockwood would go on to be the co star of one of the seminal futuristic films of all time - only to be killed by a computer , HAL, I. 2001 : A Space Odyssey, is also interesting.

This gets a 4 for some great set decor and Vegas-in-the-60's pastiche. It's filled with cliché Euro-perceptions about American culture and organized crime, suffers from ponderous dramatics, over-posed (and under- talented) character actors, and underdeveloped leads with phantom motivation. Somehow I get the feeling the director dropped a couple of pallets of footage on some half-suspecting, chain-smoking Spanish editor, then got too tied up making a film centered on his new fascination with forklifts to be available to sort out the mess.

It's the same thing that happens when a European chef tries to make chili or barbecue sauce. It tastes strangely like beef Bourgignon or Bolognese.

After his aging mentor gets killed in a holdup, a youthful criminal protégé named Tony (Gary Lockwood) and his girlfriend Ann (Elke Sommer) plot an armored car heist in the desert southwest of Las Vegas. But things get complicated as Ann works for the armored car owner named Skorsky (Lee J. Cobb) who has ties to the Mafia. And the Feds are trying to nail Skorsky. Still, Tony thinks he can pull it off because, unlike his mentor, Tony has a more modern outlook. When Ann says to Tony: "Nobody can get into a Skorsky truck", Tony replies: " ... it can be done, just a question of information, like where's the key ... see, it's all so simple; information".

The plot starts out okay but bogs down in the middle; the film could probably have been shortened by at least twenty minutes. But I have to say that Tony's solution to hiding the armored car is ingenious; and the film is worth watching if for no other reason.

This is a European production, and it shows. Dialogue is dubbed; some of the actors are Italian or French. And the score sounds like what one would hear in a Spaghetti Western, cold and haunting. But it's the production design and costumes that render this film locked into a cinematic time capsule.

Blonde bimbos wear mini-skirts. Vehicles include Olds Toronados, Pontiac GTOs, Vokswagon bugs, station wagons, and Corvairs. In desert scenes, men use walkie-talkies. And the casting of Elke Sommer adds to the time capsule feel, with her ten-inch long false eyelashes. Computers are big clunky stand-alone machines that use cardboard punch cards and reel-to-reel tapes. And the dialogue doesn't help either; at one point Ann is referred to as a "broad".

Acting is borderline acceptable, except for Elke Sommer, whose robotic movements and emotionless expressions make her seem like some kind of futuristic mannequin. Cinematography is dark, and there are lots of close-up and extreme close-up shots. At one point in the second half there's a physical fight. Because of the photography or maybe because of the Direction, I couldn't tell who was doing what to whom. Rear-screen projection in some scenes also dates the production. And there are a lot of scenes shot along the Sunset Strip in Vegas, which may have been stock footage.

Undeniably different, especially in the way the armored truck is concealed, this gritty film is worth watching once. But the viewer needs to have high tolerance for dated elements, which make the film time-bound, to the point of unintentional humor at times.

A great European co-production , though mostly Spanish . Being Shot in San Francisco and Los Angeles and Splugues De Llobregrat , Barcelona , and Almeria. It deals with a big hold up carried out by a motley group . It contains International and Big name stars thanks to Warner Bros . The bunch hijacks and robs an armored lorry carrying a casino cash , a huge amount of money about seven million dollars , in route between between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.They touched the raw Vegas nerve with the wildest heist in history. The expert team challenged the syndicate boys in their own backyard.

A Spanish superproduction dealing with the wildest freak-out in Vegas history , including all-star-cast about a spectacular robbing on an armored truck . Being based on a novel titled The men of Las Vegas written by French author called Andre Lay , and being exhibited within a year of the book was published. The main cast is top-notch with the most famous actors by the time as Gary Lockwood, Jack Palance, Lee J Cobb and Elke Sommer . Support cast is pretty good , plenty of familiar Spanish faces as Gustavo Re , Enrique Ávila, Daniel Martín , Fernando Hilbeck , Jorge Rigaud , Ruben Rojo , Luis Barboo, Antonio Casas , Carlos Ballesteros, among others.And brief intervention from Roger Hanin , Georges Geret and Jean Servais.

Colorful cinematography by Juan Gelpi , shot on gorgeous locations , though the Nevada desert was actually shot in desert of Tabernas, Andalucia, where during the sixties and seventies had been filmed lots of Spaghetti Paella Westerns.Evocative and catching musical score by George Garvarentz in the sixties style . The motion picture was professionally directed by Antonio Isasi Isasmendi. Recently deceased Antonio was a craftsman who made a lot of successful films.As he directed El Perro ,Un Verano Para Matar , Monstruos Del Terror , Mask Scaramouche and his greatest hit was Istanbul 65. He directed great International stars as Karl Malden , Olivia Hussey , Jack Palance, Jason Miller , Lea Massari , Gary Lockwood ,and Lee J Cobb

I saw this movie as a child and still remember it. It has one of those plots that's so interesting that you don't forget it. It reminds me of "Sudden Fury"(Canadian) and "Loophole" (UK). Wish they'd bring it out on DVD. I remember Elke Summer and Lee J. Cobb in it. Didn't recall Jack Palance at all. The movie is very believable and the plot and motives of the characters interesting. At one point it seems the whole thing has reached a stalemate and you didn't have a sense of what direction the plot is going to take which was right down my street. Hate those movies where you can guess how the plot will play out and it does just that. If you want a movie with an unpredictable and interesting plot this is it.