Crime nonetheless would not pay, however typically it may look nice and be oh so charming. When you have robust sufficient charisma and a compelling sufficient plan of motion, you’ll be able to pull an enormous viewers in with the fun of a enjoyable time. A notable instance is Richard Linklater’sHit Man which shortly turned the #1 movie on Netflix shortly after launch; serving as a sign of individuals’s starvation for dwelling on the wild aspect. For an additional instance, take a look at a bit of Sixties hip leisure with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes known as Methods to Steal a Million, with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole as two connivers who crew as much as turn out to be artwork thieves with scintillating outcomes.

Methods to Steal a Million

The daughter of an artwork forger groups up with a burglar to steal one among her father’s forgeries and defend his secret.

Actors

Audrey Hepburn, Peter O’Toole

Launch Date

July 13, 1966

Run Time

123 minutes

Director

William Wyler

Studio

twentieth Century Fox

What Is ‘Methods to Steal a Million’ About?

Nicole Bonnet (Hepburn) is the daughter of a really profitable artwork forger named Charles Bonnet (Hugh Griffith), whose fake copies of iconic work have given them a lavish way of life in Paris. She continually warns him that he’ll get in hassle for his profession selection, however to no avail. When Charles decides to present a replica of a Venus statue to a museum, he unknowingly permits the museum to forensically study it, which can certainly show it is a phony and wreck his life. Nicole can’t enable that, and so she vows to steal the statue from the museum. So as to take action, she calls upon the assistance of Simon Dermott (O’Toole), a dashing artwork thief that she caught making an attempt to steal one among her father’s faux Van Gogh work. It is a pure oil paint meets watercolor paint match made in Heaven, as the 2 will interact in a traditional bickering back-and-forth that is so naturally pleasant and effortlessly entertaining.

The dynamic between Nicole and Simon is one constructed round tolerating their irritation with one another for the sake of a shared purpose. That is according to lots of the finest relationships constructed on two individuals who will not cease sniping at one another. Nicole finds Simon to be louche, ingratiating, and awfully insisting on his personal appeal. Simon finds Nicole to be a nasty liar, moody, and an enormous goody-two-shoes. And but what trounces all of these character mismatches is how clearly they’re into one another from the bounce, with Hepburn and O’Toole losing no time in appearing like they don’t seem to be giving one another appears and never being all that bothered by being so shut. It is truthfully very healthful for 2 individuals introduced collectively by the necessity to break the legislation.

Whereas Nicole’s and Simon’s chemistry already makes sufficient sense on the web page, what raises it into being the principle purpose to see the movie is the casting of Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole. Whether or not intentional or not, the movie performs with a cute stage of self-awareness about how the celebs’ personas of the 2 match and mingle with one another. Hepburn was basically the closest factor Hollywood needed to a princess (Grace Kelly would not rely since she left Hollywood as soon as she really turned royalty). Hepburn was a vogue and magnificence icon who dazzled everybody along with her humility and demeanor that created a tractor beam that many had been powerless to. O’Toole, however, was an enigmatic troublemaker who may make all of his pink flags disappear along with his assured look and everlasting smirk. As Simon himself completely describes the distinction between her and him, “you’re an aristocrat and I’m a humble burglar.” That is virtually objectively a mismatch of personalities, and but pairing them creates magic in the best way they create a tug-of-war between one another. Hepburn tries to drag O’Toole as much as her stage of sensibility, whereas O’Toole tries to yank her right down to his stage of delinquency, and we keep blessed for his or her mutual effort.

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It have to be stated that there is a fantastic irony in how Hepburn, specifically, permits herself to be portrayed. By this level in her profession, she’d been evolving away from the pristine doll roles she’d gotten well-known for and moved on to extra daring roles that toyed along with her picture. A few of these notable examples embody arguably two of her most iconic roles, in Breakfast At Tiffany’s and My Truthful Woman, with audiences loving seeing her a bit of bit jaded and a bit of bit dirtier, respectively. With Methods to Steal a Million, the movie has its cake and eats it too, letting Hepburn be each the refined girl everybody cherished but additionally be a rule breaker on her phrases.

She breaks right into a museum to rob it, however just for the sake of serving to her father. She’s decked to the nines within the chicest of mod-influenced outfits, but additionally has to decorate like a dusty scullery maid for the heist plan to work. That setup results in maybe the funniest line of the movie, the place Simon cracks that “it provides Givenchy an evening off,” referring to Hepburn’s actual life fixation with being dressed by designer Hubert de Givenchy all through her profession. The movie is so giddy to confess how a lot enjoyable it’s to have the princess from Roman Vacation slumming it within the swinging ’60’s, and the vibes are infectious.

William Wyler’s Course Emphasizes Comedy Over Thrills

For director William Wyler, whose dealing with of varied shades of dramatic storytelling led him to be amongst essentially the most Oscar-friendly filmmakers in historical past, this movie was a marked shift for him. Whereas he’d executed a mushy romantic comedy with Roman Vacation, he’d by no means executed a movie as broadly comedic as Methods to Steal a Million is, and he is clearly placing much more inventory within the movie’s comedic potential than different components. He goes so far as to goose little moments with goofy sound results, like massive drum bangings or slide whistles being paired with the clownish responses of the characters. A far cry from the high-wire daredevil methods of different notable heist motion pictures like the Mission: Unimaginable franchise, and even the cool precision of Jules Dassin‘s Rififi, it feels extra according to the unique Ocean’s Eleven, starring Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. That movie prioritized chemistry with its forged and hanging out in lavish areas over the precise heist mechanics. Equally, Wyler a lot prefers watching Hepburn and O’Toole deny their affection for one another than dig into the main points of the heist. There aren’t even that many particulars to go over, because the heist itself winds up being fairly simply constructed round handy placement of keys and the guards not being nice at their job.

That is to not say that the movie’s negligible curiosity in heist science is a big flaw, extra that it is a acutely aware resolution on Wyler’s behalf. It is a pure film star film, the place the viewers will solely care insofar because the leads are requested to carry scenes all on their very own. Why trouble with whether or not their plan would really work when Hepburn and O’Toole are on fireplace anytime they’re inside 5 ft of one another, and the movie is so dedicated to its leisurely tourism. It looks as if a good trade-off, as there is no disgrace in indulging in a superb haunt movie each every now and then, and Methods to Steal a Million will go away you content that you simply obtained two hours stolen from you.

Methods to Steal a Million is at present accessible to lease or purchase on Prime Video within the U.S.

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