Un homme à respecter

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.

I didn't think this one sounded all that great, what with it being a Euro-crime film with a PG rating, but I was wrong. The Master Touch might not be as deliriously violent as, well, Violent Naples or Contraband, but it's got a certain charm to it thanks to the actors involved. Florinda Balken! Guilliano Gemma! Romano Puppo! And some unknown called Kirk Douglas, who manages to acquit himself nicely amongst those greats.

Kirk is indeed a master safe breaker, just out of the jail after a three year stretch, and immediately offered another job by a mobster called Miller. Kirk's a bit torn about it (for about ten seconds) as his wife, Florinda, doesn't really want to be waiting for him to get out of jail a second time. Kirk starts preparing for a new heist in a seemingly impenetrable vault while giving Florinda the old 'I'm not up to nothing' whilst bringing under his wing trapeze artist (!) Guilliano Gemma. Gemma's got his own problems, having had a run in and a fairly mental punch up with one of Miller's goons, the late Romano Puppo, who chases Gemma all around Hamburg, out for a rematch.

Kirk teaches Guillano the ropes while Florinda flounces around in a huff, and before they're all ready to go the film takes a left turn into one of the loopiest car chases I've ever witnessed. It's simply over the top Italian goodness, and starts off with yet another fairly violent punch up between Gemma and Puppo. I won't spoil it for you here, and all I'm going to say is that I watched it twice in a row.

The heist is fairly tense and detailed too. Throw in a couple of twists and double crosses, and you've got yet another fine Italian crime movie, a genre they seemed to excel at.

'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!

It may interest some to know that the score was composed by spaghetti-western and crime flick master Ennio Morricone. For some reason this goes unlisted on the DVD I own but is stated on the beginning credits (and the IMDb file).

The scoring often follows a somewhat formulaic approach that has been taken to quite a few of these films (i.e. recapitulate the theme endlessly), but there are high points. An example would be long scene preceding the film's conclusion, when Wallace is running through a coal factory.

The film itself is fairly entertaining, if not for the antiquated technologies regarded as cutting edge, and Douglas' sharp suits. Features some fairly hairy car-chases esp. considering the lack of special effects but long (and decidedly cheesy) romantic interludes with Anna.

Not spoiling ANYTHING, the movie actually has a great twist and is fairly suspenseful as the characters plan to execute the biggest heist in town.

It surprises me that for my 1st review, I would be moved to write a piece on this movie. I bought it for $1.99 at the local DVD store just because of the cover featuring Kirk Douglas as the star. What moved him to do this movie at this stage of his career would be interesting to know. In any event, I really enjoyed this movie a great deal. It had a car chase that rivals two of my favorites of all time in Bullit and the French Connection. It had the most realistic fight scenes I can remember seeing. The heist was elaborately thought out befitting the USA title of The Master Touch. It had a great twist at the end. A very good musical score composed by one of my favorites of all time by Ennino Moricone. Finally, It even had what I felt was a moral message to pass on at the end. Unfortunately, it also had a couple of big negatives that would perhaps bother a number of viewers. The quality of the DVD transfer is poor. Also, except for Kirk, the performer's lines are dubbed in English.

All in all however, I enjoyed this movie tremendously and feel like I uncovered an unknown gem which for movie lovers provides a great satisfaction in itself.