This film was made in 1970-71, just as Americans were becoming aware that the great period of economic advantage over our adversaries from World War II was coming to an end. Banks in Germany and Switzerland were attracting attention because they were convenient for money laundering purposes (although that term was not fully in use yet). They offered security and confidentiality, which American Banks could not compete with.
Gert Frobe is the head of the bank in the story (somewhat ironic, as his best role was as Auric Goldfinger, who also threatened the American economy in a different way). Frobe is playing his hard working banker as a good natured, somewhat naive type. His right hand man is a security expert played by Warren Beatty. Beatty has learned that there are several people who are using the bank: a bunch of crooked G.I.s led by Scott Brady; a mob lawyer (Robert Webber) and his assistant who are transporting tens of thousands of dollars to the bank; a hired assassin and drug courier. All three groups have one common denominator: Goldie Hawn has been having sex with Brady, Webber, and the assassin. The three groups have used the banks super-protected safety deposit boxes to store their cash. Beatty has set up the cameras, so he is aware of the timing of the cameras as they move. If he can get locked into the vault under reasonably acceptable circumstances, he can also control his movements so as not to be photographed by the camera. He is also in a position to have duplicates for the three security boxes he would have to open. Once this is done, he could clear out the money in bags put into Golde Hawn's box, and she can come in the next day and pick them up.
It sounds complicated. It is complicated, but Beatty and Hawn pull it off based on the knowledge of how much each group will deposit on a given weekend, and on the known nervousness of Frobe for the security of his beloved bank. The first half hour shows how the scheme got laid out, the next twenty minutes show how Beatty and Hawn (especially Beatty in the locked vault) pull it off. But the film does not end then. The three sets of individuals discover the robbery after the fact, and then Brady and the assassin discover the common denominator: Hawn. And the last forty minutes is a protracted chase through Germany, that has one great set piece of Beatty's fight for his life on a frozen lake.
It is not a great film, but it is entertaining and (at times) comic, thanks mostly to Hawn and Frobe (with some help from Brady occasionally). So I give it a "7" out of "10".
Gert Frobe is the head of the bank in the story (somewhat ironic, as his best role was as Auric Goldfinger, who also threatened the American economy in a different way). Frobe is playing his hard working banker as a good natured, somewhat naive type. His right hand man is a security expert played by Warren Beatty. Beatty has learned that there are several people who are using the bank: a bunch of crooked G.I.s led by Scott Brady; a mob lawyer (Robert Webber) and his assistant who are transporting tens of thousands of dollars to the bank; a hired assassin and drug courier. All three groups have one common denominator: Goldie Hawn has been having sex with Brady, Webber, and the assassin. The three groups have used the banks super-protected safety deposit boxes to store their cash. Beatty has set up the cameras, so he is aware of the timing of the cameras as they move. If he can get locked into the vault under reasonably acceptable circumstances, he can also control his movements so as not to be photographed by the camera. He is also in a position to have duplicates for the three security boxes he would have to open. Once this is done, he could clear out the money in bags put into Golde Hawn's box, and she can come in the next day and pick them up.
It sounds complicated. It is complicated, but Beatty and Hawn pull it off based on the knowledge of how much each group will deposit on a given weekend, and on the known nervousness of Frobe for the security of his beloved bank. The first half hour shows how the scheme got laid out, the next twenty minutes show how Beatty and Hawn (especially Beatty in the locked vault) pull it off. But the film does not end then. The three sets of individuals discover the robbery after the fact, and then Brady and the assassin discover the common denominator: Hawn. And the last forty minutes is a protracted chase through Germany, that has one great set piece of Beatty's fight for his life on a frozen lake.
It is not a great film, but it is entertaining and (at times) comic, thanks mostly to Hawn and Frobe (with some help from Brady occasionally). So I give it a "7" out of "10".