Produced and directed by Jules Dassin
Starring Melina Mercouri, Peter Ustinov, Maximilian Schell, Robert Morley, Akim Tamiroff
The lavish eye-candy heist pictures of the 60s are a wonderful thing. And Jules Dassin’s Topkapi (1964) might be the best of the bunch. It’s coming to Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber. Movies like this really benefit from high definition, so this one’s highly recommended.
In this one, a team of crooks are after a dagger covered in jewels — with the police never too far behind.
Peter Ustinov won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this, in a part that was originally offered to Peter Sellers. Sellers did both A Shot In The Dark and Dr. Strangelove that same year, so he came out alright.
You could probably build a film school around just watching Jules Dassin’s crime pictures. Like Don Siegel or Alfred Hitchcock, everything angle, every cut seems to be the perfect choice. Craft and confidence are burned into every frame.
This is an easy one to recommend. It’s so good.
The Hannibal 8 