Operazione Siegfried

Riddled with bills, con artist Harry Morgan (Telly) cooks up caper with his "associates," in this dated, yet enjoyable flick. The turns and twists of the plot are not exactly breathtaking, but it's just plain good fun. It involves a plot to hatch out of prison an aging Nazi, who knows the location of a hidden stash of gold, and then put him back before the prison officials are any wiser. The plot complications arise from there, to bribery of certain US military types to bribery of certain Soviet military types(!). Eeghads! Now, don't you know Telly has a "full plate" with this movie?!

It actually comes off as pretty slick, humorous and at times, surreal. It is also a testament of the affection that many in Europe had for Mr. Savalas, whom when I lived there, was widely evident. With a strong, supporting, international cast; including James Mason, Robert Culp, Gunter Meisner and Aldo Ray, INSIDE OUT is quite enjoyable.

This gangster movie in cold war-Berlin really has a fast paced and clever plot. You can enjoy this pre-mission impossible film although not all the tricks of uncomparable Telly are believable. Great acting and tight dialogues make this a fine film-evening from start to end.

This has good qualities such as a good cast, very light on the profanity and some nice cinematography....but - and it's a big "but" - the story bogs down after the first 30 minutes and never recovers. It drags on and on for way too long.

It's the story of a group of men who kidnap a former Nazi out of a high-security jail because the man knows where six million dollars in gold is hidden. Then they must all go get it, in East Germany (when Germany was divided).

It sounds interesting and should have been an intense story, but it wasn't. With a cast headlined by Telly Savalas, Robert Culp and James Mason, the fact it didn't grab me is another surprise.

I had first watched this on local TV as a kid: I'm a sucker for caper films (in fact, I've about six more, albeit very minor, such titles lined-up for viewing) and, therefore, I grabbed the opportunity to re-acquaint myself with it after all these years (even if it came via an Italian-dubbed version).

Anyway, it may be because I hadn't caught a film in this vein for quite some time – but I really enjoyed this! A very typical outing from the 1970s – international production and cast, location shooting, throwaway soundtrack – and, thankfully, one whose mind is simply set on providing easy-going entertainment: often, the central premise in this type of film gets lost amid fastidious technique and other showy trimmings – conversely, here we get an ingeniously-plotted (if, admittedly, improbable) heist that one's able to follow thus generating the requisite amount of suspense and surprise (via a plethora of entertaining twists).

The narrative is set in motion by ex-Nazi Concentration Camp Commandant James Mason(!) paying a visit to one of his former prisoners, ex-American Major Telly Savalas, presenting him with a scheme to retrieve a cache' of gold that once belonged to the Fuehrer himself (hence the film's subsequent retitling as HITLER'S GOLD); the catch is that the only one still alive who knows its whereabouts is a Nazi war criminal undergoing life imprisonment in a West German fortress! Thankfully, though, Savalas happens to be chummy with one of the American sergeants on duty there (Aldo Ray) – and he brings along for the ride explosives expert Robert Culp. Along the way, they recruit a whole slew of other associates (from one of the soldiers in charge of the original transportation to a female nurse – who eventually hitches up with Culp – to a homosexual doctor – played by Adrian Hoven – to a Russian officer based in East Germany – where, it transpires, the gold is located) which makes one wonder just how much they'd actually be making individually of the proposed loot of $6 million!

The elaborate plan involves the ex-Nazi official being drugged and replaced by Hoven for a day – while our heroes, having turned a vacated building into a simulacra of the Nazi headquarters circa 1944 (complete with the ex-driver now impersonating Hitler!), try to nudge his memory bank about the coveted gold cache'. As I said, the turn-of-events see them crossing over to East Germany dressed as American officers and, with the help of the afore-mentioned Russian, they evacuate the building which now stands on the site where the gold is hidden so that they work at their leisure to recover it. Unsurprisingly, with so much money at stake and so many fingers in the proverbial pot, the number is reduced when the German soldier loses his nerve and the Russian becomes too greedy for his own good. At long last, the Nazi is placed back in his cell and the gang can take a deep sigh of relief; again, typical of the time in which the film was made, they manage to get away with it…

Gripping, packed with incident but essentially light-hearted (with the actors clearly enjoying themselves) and good to look at (the cinematography is by the renowned – and Sam Peckinpah regular – John Coquillon), the film emerges as the perfect anti-dote to one's dreary work routine and the equally inconvenient summer heat.

Former German officer Ernst Furben comes to American wide-boy Harry Morgan with a story of stolen Nazi gold that has been hidden somewhere. The only man who actually knows where it is hidden is one Reinhard Holtz, who unfortunately is being held in prison for the rest of his life. Employing the services of Sly Wells, Aldo Ray and Hans Schmidt, Harry comes up with a plan to break Holtz out of the maximum security prison, get the location and recover the gold for themselves.

The plot summary makes it sound like a great caper movie with elements of Kelly's Heroes thrown in, its tongue in its cheek and a nice twisty plot. However from the faltering first steps with a clumsy flashback setup, the film fails to really ignite and, although parts are enjoyable and to-formula, it has too many bits thrown in that slow it down. The best bits are the parts where they must execute their plan and often it is so ludicrous that you have no option but to go along with it. These bits just about provide the caper feel that I was expecting but other times it takes itself too seriously and limits the sheer sense of fun that things like this need to survive.

This isn't helped by the visual style of the whole thing – or rather, lack of style. Parts of it look like it has been shot in an English northern town in the 1970's and to the eye it comes over as rather dull and dead. The horrible use of music is a real downer as well. Problems associated with the period perhaps but the overall impression is that the film generally lacked effort. On paper the cast seems to suggest that this is not true but in practice the lacklustre collection of performances just enforces the impression. Savalas just about turns up and, although he is a solid enough presence to almost get away with it, you can't help but feel like he is just taking the money and running. Mason is just as poor and turns in a rather dull performance that is far down the list in terms of his career. Culp is so-so, Ray is OK and the fact that Meisner stuck in my mind was probably more to do with the lack of competition as opposed to him being any good himself.

Overall then a fairly dull caper movie that will do little for fans of the genre or even those looking for entertainment. The plot is OK in parts but it generally lacks the fun and energy such a film needs to get by. It looks quite cheap and generally the impression given is a film made without a lot of effort or imagination which is probably a fair summary of it all told.