Um Homem a Respeitar

I recently got this on DVD and I was surprised that it is not a half bad heist film! This might seem at first glance to be a low budget European flick, but if you stick with it there are some decent fight scenes, one pretty cool car chase (made the way when car chases really WERE car chases and not just done with crap computer effects like parts of the Gone In Sixty Seconds remake, where the drivers don't appear to be in any real jeopardy) and a surprisingly good heist story complete with some good plot twists and turns.

The film is dated in parts but all in all it holds up quite well. And Kirk Douglas gives a good performance as an over the hill thief wanting to pull one last score. All in all, The Master Touch is not bad way to spend an afternoon. Ciao, ciao, baby.

'The Master Touch' (aka) 'Un Uomo Da Rispettare' (1972) is what can be genuinely described as an unsung poliziotteschi classic. Outside of 'Escape From Death Row' (1973) this appears to be director Michele Lupo's only exciting foray into the grimy idiom of Italian crime cinema, and that's a great shame, since maestro, Lupo's pleasingly brisk, stylishly mounted, gloriously acrobatic actioner is arguably up there with the very best of 'em! The engagingly simple premise is slickly handled: Steve Wallace (Kirk Douglas), a seasoned heist expert is encouraged to attempt the seemingly impossible blag of removing $1.000.000 from what initially appears to be a wholly impenetrable fortress masquerading as a bank! Master Touch's stunning set pieces are fashioned with a clockwork precision, Lupo's refreshingly masculine 70s thriller retains its timeless fascination!

What separates this classy offering from many other lesser titles is the hugely charismatic presence of Hollywood icon, Kirk Douglas, whose roguish, insouciant exterior belies the steely heart of a truly exemplary, meticulously minded thief. As Kirk's better half, the always delightful, Florinda Bolkan has, sadly, little to do outside of sporadic brooding, plus a soupçon of crotch-expanding smoulder, yet Bolkan's lustrous presence offers a more than welcome distraction to Master Touch's brawny machismo. The immensely likeable, physically adept, woefully underrated cinematic stud, Giuliano Gemma excels as the agile trapeze artist who is recruited to construct what appears to be a vacuum-tight alibi. Michele Lupo's compelling narrative includes a deliriously destructive, scalp-raising, cacophonous car chase through the dank streets of Hamburg, and the exquisitely shot heist is a veritable Boy's own dream! And it would be an even greater (Euro) crime not to mention the sublime, low key, uniquely atmospheric score by maestro, Ennio Morricone, whose majestic theme adds a terse piquancy to all the square jawed, sweaty-browed, Alpha Male theatrics!

A spaghetti western, or in this case, a spaghetti heist. Starts out as the usual story of someone being released from prison, determined to pull one last job that will set him up for life. Stars kirk douglas as wallace, and a lot of people we've never heard of before. Co-stars florinda bolkan (as the wife) and giuliano gemma (as the "business" partner). It takes a lot of time to get to the actual heist... car chases, car stunts, fist fights. A small, wooden gate that just rips the roof right off a car. Such a poorly made car! Super duper 1970s music, when wallace is home with the wife. All that really matters here is the last thirty minutes. It's set up as a regular bank heist, but there are some interesting twists and turns along the way. Directed by michele lupo, who died young at 56. Kirk douglas lived to 103! And was nominated for three film oscars.

To insure some box office for this film released in America as Master Touch, Kirk Douglas was added to this Italian-German production filmed in and around Hamburg. I'm sure that Douglas did this one for the European vacation he was going to get.

Master Touch is your average caper film that has elements of other films like Bullitt, The Asphalt Jungle and Topkapi. But it doesn't glide into the different moods of these films, it rather lurches uncomfortably.

Kirk is a master safe-cracker who's just returned from a stretch in the joint. It's never really explained why this American is operating in Germany, so I assume it was a German prison. Wolfgang Preiss, a syndicate boss for whom he was doing a job when he was caught wants him for another caper. Douglas turns him down flat, but Preiss won't take no for an answer.

In the meantime though he's pinched for cash so what to do, but back to the old trade and he decides to pull the job that Preiss offered on his own. He teams up with young Giuliano Gemma, a young circus performer who he saw best one of Preiss's hoods in a fight. In the meantime wife Florinda Bolkan pleads with Kirk to go straight.

The best parts of Master Touch are devoted to the robbery and it is here the film most resembles Topkapi. The robbery sequences show that Kirk indeed had a Master Touch.

What he didn't have is good judgment in people and that leads to a climax somewhat reminiscent of The Asphalt Jungle. I'm not about to give away any endings.

Master Touch will never make anyone's top 10 list of Kirk Douglas films. Good in spots it still leaves quite a bit to be desired. But Kirk's fans around the world will like it.

There's a lot of other, similar, better foreign heist movies from this period, including the French AND HOPE TO DIE, and the Italian LAST CHANCE which I both found much more interesting than this work.

The main thing this one has going for it is once-huge American star Kirk Douglas in a very meaty central role as a super-suave master thief akin to Clooney's character in the recent "Ocean's 11" series. The supporting cast is also good, though underused, with Gemma as a trapeze artist who Douglas tries to recruit into the life of thievery. Wolfgang Preiss (the guy who always plays Nazi bad guys in war movies) plays the main mob boss with Romano Puppo in a satisfying role as his head thug. Puppo and Gemma have numerous fight and chase scenes which are fun to watch but add absolutely nothing to the plot. Speaking of plot, this one conveniently glazes over all the details of the heist, except on how Douglas deals with the security system's sound recorder. His preparations don't appear to be particularly well informed yet he seems unswervingly confident about the whole thing. Hmmm....

He also has a hot girlfriend/wife/lover/whatever Florinda Bolkan... who repeatedly tells him NOT to go through with the heist or she will leave him. These assertions make absolutely no impact on Douglas, who is single-minded in his pursuit of a big score... and then he is surprised later by all the double-crosses.

It's worth tracking down, but not exactly the most cerebral crime caper from the period. A little more realism would have done this film an immeasurable service.