O Ouro Maldito de Las Vegas

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.

This is an average to above-average heist film that is helped immeasurably by the lovely Elke Sommer's presence. Once again, she wasn't able to do much with her character, beside being eye candy. Gary Lockwood is staid, Lee J. Cobb gruff, and Jack Palance wired tight as we have come to expect.

A 6 out of 10. Best performance = Elke Sommer. These late 60's crime pics were churned out ad nauseum, but the criminals' plan itself is fairly interesting. Elke adds a measure of class with her beauty and poise that helps it plug along. I remember seeing this at the drive-in on a double bill with THE WILD BUNCH.

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

Steve Skorsky (Lee J. Cobb) has a fleet of specially-designed impenetrable armored trucks. Blackjack dealer Tony Ferris (Gary Lockwood) and his girlfriend Ann Bennett (Elke Sommer) work their scam stealing from the casino. She works for the transport company while he's tracking the scheduled shipment from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. They and their fellow criminals plan to take down one of the trucks. Douglas (Jack Palance) is a Treasury agent.

The gang needs fewer members and the other members need more screen time. An Oceans movie would have fun with each member of the gang. In this one, only Tony and Ann are interesting and given enough screen time. The truck looks a little silly but I'm willing to live with that. I get the idea of a 60's futurist vehicle. The same goes for the Skorsky headquarters. They are basically robbing a Winnebago dressed up with some pretend cladding. The other issue about the heist is the desert location. I hoped for a high speed road chase. This is less compelling. It really needs a high speed car chase to inject kinetic energy. The heist gets a bit static after the underground hideout. This is a fine caper flick but it's not the best.

Lee J. Cobb, Jack Palance, Elke Sommer and Gary Lockwood (2001) in caper film set in Las Vegas. Some wonderful actors who don't really have the chance to interact. Elke is fabulous as usual, but we don't see enough of her, and her dalliances with Cobb and Lockwood to create any real excitement. Palance and Cobb growl their best but are let down by the ponderous pace. Some great scenes and ideas (hiding the armored car in the middle of the Nevada desert), and some truncated interplay between Palance and Sommer that suggests that a lot was left on the cutting room floor. But great fun to watch just to see a great looking classic sixties cast. Whatever happened to Gary Lockwood?