The various established gangs making up the criminal underworld have to compete with an annoying newcomer : an uppity little band of thieves and robbers impersonating the police. Meanwhile the police aren't all that happy either, realizing that the idea of "officers" creeping through half-open windows or speeding away with bags of swag is unlikely to strengthen public confidence. Many an alliance has been built on weaker grounds...
A pleasantly watchable black-and-white comedy with a prize cast, a number of amusing episodes and a hilarious ending. (Be sure to watch the reunion of the various criminals of Great-Britain, in which everybody behaves with the kind of procedural decorum associated with the more polite kind of trade union meeting. Also pretty funny : Peter Sellers, in his daytime persona of fashion designer, advertising his frocks with a pseudo-French accent.)
Time, however, has not been entirely kind to the movie, in the sense that the material must have seemed edgier and funnier anno 1963 than it does nowadays. These days even the most sheltered of viewers realize that the border between criminals and police is not absolute and inviolable, meaning that the idea of a possible collaboration is unlikely to make people crow with glee...
A pleasantly watchable black-and-white comedy with a prize cast, a number of amusing episodes and a hilarious ending. (Be sure to watch the reunion of the various criminals of Great-Britain, in which everybody behaves with the kind of procedural decorum associated with the more polite kind of trade union meeting. Also pretty funny : Peter Sellers, in his daytime persona of fashion designer, advertising his frocks with a pseudo-French accent.)
Time, however, has not been entirely kind to the movie, in the sense that the material must have seemed edgier and funnier anno 1963 than it does nowadays. These days even the most sheltered of viewers realize that the border between criminals and police is not absolute and inviolable, meaning that the idea of a possible collaboration is unlikely to make people crow with glee...