Well the film had it's strong points: great actors, a lot of Twilight Zone veterans and Eli Wallah and a great noir vibe as well but these criminals, well they aren't too bright ... they put all this planning into picking marks to be mules and yet they are totally sloppy and inept about the pick ups.
The initial attempt was ridiculous; how much attention can you garner, especially when the mark is in on it? Do you need to be that obvious, a frenzied flight, a car crash, a cop killed? For the 2nd pickup, you kill a guy in the steam-room, with witnesses all around? No too bright ... Wallach isn't even dressed while the guy is dead right there in the steam room 5 feet away from him... why not go up to his room, secure the drugs and then kill him where no one will find him for awhile? Then they kill a servant for really no good reason and then they kidnap a woman and her 12 year old child (the kid used a huge bag of heroin to powder her doll's nose and no one noticed ... ok... great mother: lets her kid play w/ a giant bag of dope all day and then accepts a ride from 3 creeps in a car) ... and it seems these cagey criminals plan to murder the girl and her mother after they introduce them to the kingpin so he can share in the experience ... yeah, that won't attract too much attention, sounds wise, judicious ... then to wrap up, Wallach pushes an old man in a wheelchair to his death in front of hundreds of potential witnesses, nuns and kids and such, after which he flees the scene in an attention attracting panic ... smooth fellas, real smooth ... and it still took the cops the entire film to catch up with these guys ...
Anyway, I enjoyed the film but I much prefer smarter criminals who play it a little more carefully and don't draw unnecessary attention to themselves throughout the entire movie ...
The initial attempt was ridiculous; how much attention can you garner, especially when the mark is in on it? Do you need to be that obvious, a frenzied flight, a car crash, a cop killed? For the 2nd pickup, you kill a guy in the steam-room, with witnesses all around? No too bright ... Wallach isn't even dressed while the guy is dead right there in the steam room 5 feet away from him... why not go up to his room, secure the drugs and then kill him where no one will find him for awhile? Then they kill a servant for really no good reason and then they kidnap a woman and her 12 year old child (the kid used a huge bag of heroin to powder her doll's nose and no one noticed ... ok... great mother: lets her kid play w/ a giant bag of dope all day and then accepts a ride from 3 creeps in a car) ... and it seems these cagey criminals plan to murder the girl and her mother after they introduce them to the kingpin so he can share in the experience ... yeah, that won't attract too much attention, sounds wise, judicious ... then to wrap up, Wallach pushes an old man in a wheelchair to his death in front of hundreds of potential witnesses, nuns and kids and such, after which he flees the scene in an attention attracting panic ... smooth fellas, real smooth ... and it still took the cops the entire film to catch up with these guys ...
Anyway, I enjoyed the film but I much prefer smarter criminals who play it a little more carefully and don't draw unnecessary attention to themselves throughout the entire movie ...