The Biggest Bundle of Them All

Robert Wagner (with girlfriend Raquel Welch in tow), Godfrey Cambridge, Davy Kaye, and Francesco Mulè kidnap retired gangster Vittorio di Sica and try to ransom him. He's broke. When he can't raise the ransom money, he takes them into partnership to steal $5,000,000 in platinum with a plan by mastermind Edward G. Robinson.

It's one of those sprawling 1960s comedies, this one directed by Ken Annakin, populated by serious actors. Unfortunately, it's not in the least funny. Di Sica shows no sparkle, Wagner is in over his depth, and Miss Welch, who would show great comedy chops in THE THREE MUSKETEERS, is present for eye candy, and she certainly performs in a bikini. The big heist is well done, but that makes this no less a slog.

This sort of movie could work; IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD was carried on the backs of its all-star comic performers, and WHO'S MINDING THE MINT likewise. This one, however, brought no smile to my face.

Mindless, 'wacky' nonsense involving sorry group of thieves in Italy who hope to rob Old World mobster Vittorio De Sica out of 50 grand...unfortunately, he's broke. Plan B has the team plus De Sica and criminal mastermind Edward G. Robinson joining forces to steal five million in platinum ingots from a train. Inane, overlong caper with mostly obnoxious characters (particularly Robert Wagner's, who keeps barking insults like a tough Sammy Davis, Jr.: "I've had it, baby, can you dig it?"). Raquel Welch is bouncy as the one girl in the bunch, and anyone watching will end up just watching her. Ken Annakin directed, without flair, style or humor. *1/2 from ****

I agree with moonspinner55's review.

It's painful to watch Wagner play a simple pain-in-the-ass, or Cambridge play a bumbler with no good scenes.

Welch is very pretty, but like everyone else here, her one dimensional character adds nothing.

Nobody here has an interesting character, nor is there any humor evident in the first 50 minutes (after which I stopped).

I enjoy wacky caper comedies, but though this movie tries to be one, it never comes close.

If you spend two hours on this, you're spending more time on it than the writers did.

Not a truly funny movie, but it is amusing. Watching Robert Wagner acting tough is very amusing. Of course there is Raquel in all her splendor. Watching her go-go with Edward G. Robinson (!) is worth the price of admission alone. The supporting characters do the best they can with the cartoon characters they are given to enact. And you get to watch Godfrey Cambridge play the violin!

I don't go for that many "heist" comedies, and I might not care for this one if it weren't for the actors, when it was made, and when I FIRST SAW it (just a few years later). It's almost too similar to "The Happening" (even though it's obviously a much less serious comedy than that one) - Mafia figure takes over his own kidnapping, or rather, turns it in a different direction altogether. Of course, Raquel Welch didn't play the kind of sharp character Faye Dunaway did in The Happening, but that doesn't make it a sexist film either - she was practically playing a stock character, almost HER version of a "moll"! But, I'm completely biased - it's among the first films I ever saw with her, and at the time I saw it, you couldn't turn around without seeing a poster of her (luckily). I think Robert Wagner was really just right as the neither thoroughly likable nor dis-likable leader of the group, as were Edward G. Robinson (naturally) and Vittoria De Sica. And Godfrey Cambridge, an actor who always managed to be funny.