Themes: Art Theft, Cons and Scams, Unlikely Criminals
Main Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Eli Wallach, Hugh Griffith, Charles Boyer
Release Year: 1966
Country: US
Run Time: 127 minutes
Plot
In this elegant "caper" film, Audrey Hepburn stars as the daughter of a wealthy Parisian (Hugh Griffith), whose hobby is copying famous works of art. His replica of a famed Cellini sculpture is inadvertently displayed in an art museum, and he begins to worry that he'll lose his reputation once the experts evaluate the statuette. Audrey decides to rob the museum, and hires a burglar (Peter O'Toole) for that purpose. But the burglar is really a detective, who has every intention of arresting Audrey and her father when the deed is done. All style and little substance, How to Steal a Million is consummately acted by the stars, but the film is stolen hands-down by a "double take" reaction from French comic actor Moustache. The film was originally titled How to Steal a Million Dollars and Live Happily Ever After, which gave the whole game away and thus was pared down before release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Heist caper comedies are a special breed, and while How to Steal a Million is certainly not the finest of them, it may very well feature the most engaging star coupling. Certainly Million needs the star wattage that Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole provide in abundance, for left to its own devices it would be significantly less enthralling. The biggest problem is that the film is a good 20 minutes too long and that it takes far too long to get to the heart of the story; the entire subplot with Eli Wallach could have been excised from the screenplay and the little that was lost would have been made up for by a film that moved along at a brighter pace. Part of the blame rests with director William Wyler, whose work here is certainly good but is also clearly not his best; a stronger hand on the helm was needed to trim the completed picture. Still, this matters little once the film actually starts concentrating on the scheme, and its far better for the film to drag too much at the beginning than at the end. Besides, as long as Hepburn and O'Toole are around, no one needs to pay too much attention to the fluffy script. They're such incredibly beautiful people and have such unmatched charisma, both separately and together, that we're quite ready to forget what they're saying and just listen to the way they say it and how they look when they're saying it. It doesn't hurt that Hugh Griffith is also on hand to turn in a marvelous supporting performance, and it really doesn't hurt that Hepburn gets to waltz around in a number of stunning Givenchy outfits. Million is not a great film, but it's a perfectly charming way to waste a couple of hours. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Marcel Dalio - Senor Paravideo; Fernand Gravey - Grammont; Jacques Marin - Chief Guard; Moustache - Guard; Roger Treville - Auctioneer; Eddie Malin - Insurance Clerk; Bert Bertram - Marcel, the butler; Louise Chevalier - Cleaning Woman in Museum; Gil Delamere - Stunt Double; Remy Longa - Young Man
Credit
Hubert de Givenchy - Costume Designer, William Wyler - Director, Robert Swink - Editor, John Williams - Composer (Music Score), Alberto de Rossi - Makeup, Freddie Williamson - Makeup, Alexandre Trauner - Production Designer, Charles B. Lang - Cinematographer, Fred Kohlmar - Producer, Harry Kurnitz - Screenwriter, George Bradshaw - Short Story Author
O'Toole appears as Simon Dermott, caught by Audrey Hepburn sneaking through her house clutching a forged painting. Hepburn plays Nicole Bonnet, the daughter of genius art fraud Charles Bonnet (Griffith). The central theme of the movie is the recovery from a Parisian museum of a fake Cellini committed by Bonnet's grandfather, before its discovery and exposure as such, and is enlivened by the romantic angle between the characters played by O'Toole and Hepburn.
Charles Bonnet is a professional art forger, and has just loaned a forged Cellini sculpture to a museum. One night, his daughter Nicole finds Dermott carrying one of the many paintings in their house (which happens to be forged). He says he is a high society burglar, and she accidentally shoots him in the arm with a pistol so old it does almost no harm. Knowing that if she reports him there will be an investigation and the family's secret destroyed, she offers to drive the man home.
Later, she and her father learn that his sculpture is going to have a mandatory authenticity test, which leaves them both devastated. In order to save her father, Nicole enlists Dermott's help to steal the sculpture. He accepts after some hesitation. They spend the evening in a storage closet in the museum, during which Dermott discloses that he knew about the Cellini forgery and explains his motivation for concealing his knowledge, conveying with a kiss; he and Nicole express their love for each other. Dermott twice uses a boomerang to set off the high-tech "electric eye" alarm, thus confusing the guards into thinking it is defective. After the second time, the guards deactivate the alarm. The two take the sculpture (replacing it with a brandy bottle for the guards to notice) and walk out amidst all the confusion about the disappearance.
With the family saved, Dermott reveals he is actually a private detective who specializes in art fraud and will not take her father in, provided he forsakes his art forgery. Nicole and the "thief" follow through with their love and get married.
Popular culture
A verbal exchange between Nicole and her father early in the film ("Nicole!" "Papa!") was used in a successful series of commercials for the Renault Clio.
