User Reviews

"The Biggest Bundle of Them All" is more a heist spoof than a comedy. Though some of it is very funny.

I was unfamiliar with Vittorio de Sica's work so I won't comment on him. Edward G. Robinson, on the other hand, mellowed into a subtle actor with a quiet flair for humor. He gives a presentation in one scene that calls out for PowerPoint. He's just great and, alas, too briefly seen.

The star, for better or worse, is Robert Wagner. Usually likeable, if not much more, here he talks tough. He doesn't pull it off very well, but I have a theory that's part of his character: he talks tough because of his innate weakness. Much less palatable is his 1960s slang, which dates him worse than a calendar. He always did his best work spoofing himself. Perhaps that starts here?

Wagner has a ready-made gang of misfits. Right off the bat they kidnap an aging mobster for ransom (a paltry fifty thousand dollars to split five ways--shades of "Austin Powers"!) only to learn he has no money and no one else he ever helped will pick up his bill. Now what?

Upset that no one wants to help him, the aging mobster gets together with an old chum (Robinson) to plan a fresh caper.

But the caper gets bigger and bigger, requiring more front money. And more danger for the pitiful gang.

Not many laughs but when Godfrey Cambridge is given the stage he's hilarious.

Oh, and did I mention Wagner's co-star is Raquel Welch? Perhaps she's old hat in her second century but for a boy growing up on 1960s movies she left a strong impression on me, especially in "Fathom" and "Bedazzled." And one of my favorite all-time movies, Richard Lester's "The Three Musketeers."

I never even heard of this flick until I was sixty and went through a "light-hearted heist spoof of the 1960s" phase and watched all I could.

Raquel might be, as one wag had it, "plastic from the neck down," but she's undeniably lovely and she's smart enough to know what attributes made her a star and how to use them. More than half the movie she's costumed in a way to reveal herself to best effect even when she's wearing a sweater. Is all that important? Yes! That's what she's there for. To titllate. In fact, that's all she's ever there for. And her performance dominates the movie. She buries all the others, apart from Robinson's cameo and Cambridge, who has too few lines.

Is it a great flick? It's about on the level of a heist spoof made for TV. But for the most part it's an inoffensive little time-waster. It just doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. It's not a full-blown comedy like Jim Hutton's "Who's Minding The Mint?" And there's always a feeling it might turn nasty in the end. All that is the fault of the writers.

If you try this one on for size don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed. Especially if you're a guy with hankering for Raquel. Movies then were not as graphic as the are these days, and that's a good thing, as Raquel teases us along from scene to scene all the way through. She'll have most guys wondering what a she'll wear next. She wears pants suits better than anyone. Until she starred in the wonderful "Three Musketeers" she was never much of an ensemble player. She was Raquel--she had them but in her heyday she needed two names no more than Elvis. She doesn't blend. At this stage of her career any movie with Raquel in it was a Raquel movie. Yowza. If nothing else, she's worth the price of admission.

Following his role in the fine caper SEVEN THIEVES (1960) – which I’ve watched several years back – Edward G. Robinson seemed to be stuck playing elderly criminal mastermind types (apart from the odd juicy role as in THE CINCINNATI KID [1965]). I’d previously watched the pretty good “Euro-Cult” effort GRAND SLAM (1967) and, apart from this, I’ve yet two more similar titles from Italy to check – one of which was directed by future goremeister Lucio Fulci! Anyway, this is the kind of international production – featuring American and Italian actors and a British director – which was prevalent during the 1960s; it’s harmless and easy-going in itself but hardly memorable and definitely overlong – especially since to procure finance for the heavy-duty equipment required for the heist (such as an army tank and an airplane!), the gang involved have to pull a variety of minor thefts first.

The gang, of course, is an incompetent lot led by an American (Robert Wagner) and his bimbo girlfriend (Raquel Welch) – the others are a ‘pacifist’ black man, a perennially hungry Italian and a diminutive Englishman. They try to induce an ex-gangster (Vittorio De Sica) to turn over his fortune to them, except he’s destitute…but, under the auspices of “Professor” Robinson, he proposes instead a caper of 5 million dollars’ worth of platinum! Needless to say, the gang members don’t trust one another (Wagner instructs Welch to seduce De Sica so as to get the name of their fence in Morocco – where they are to retreat after the robbery), or else bungle the job (commissioned to hold up a restaurant, the Italian can’t resist sitting at table and order a multi-course meal for himself!). Amusingly, in the face of similar failures, De Sica tries to show them how they used to do it in the old days – however, ostensibly holding up a petrol station, it transpires that the owner is a nephew of his and he merely asked to borrow some cash!

The central heist sequence is typically elaborate: while the gang, including Welch, ‘take’ the train transporting the platinum, Wagner kidnaps pilot Victor Spinetti and his airplane. When the job is done, he fully intends to double-cross De Sica – but neither his partners nor Welch herself are willing to go along with this, so he’s forced to relent. Coming from the time when crime didn’t pay, the gang contrives to lose all their stash in mid-air when the plane’s bomb-bay doors are accidentally opened…

Spoilers herein.

Someone already stole whatever might have been worth something in this film. The best comment is in the film itself, when the tired lifeless gangster directs the operation by shouting `one, two, three, four' and the hapless crew laconically walks through their paces. That's just what we have here with this brainless cast.

Hollywood should know by now that if they want a sexy girl, they have to get someone who has enough talent to create the effect.

The director is precisely like the capo: without control or effect. The film is precisely like the airplane: it lost whatever it could have brought to us.

It's easy for us in 2023 to forget just how big of a deal Racquel Welch was. I was born in 1972, so by the time I hit puberty, she was playing the role of the former sex symbol. But once you see her in this film, it all makes sense.

She's Juliana in this, the girlfriend of criminal Harry Price (Robert Wagner), whose gang has taken former Chicago gangster Cesare Celli (Vittorio De Sica, yes, the director of Bicycle Thieves) captive. Yet none of the older man's fellow bosses and none of his henchmen try to save him. No one is more insulted by Cesare, who decides to teach Price and his gang how to steal $6 million in plutonium.

Ten days before shooting, director Ken Annakin realized that he'd read a similar script called The Happening. That movie was being made by Sam Spiegel at Columbia, who got 15% of the profits for this, got to approve the script, changed the title from The Italian Caper and delayed it for six months after his movie.

There's a great cast in this, with Edward G. Robinson as a professor of crime, plus Godfrey Cambridge, Davy Kaye, Francesco Mulé, Mickey Knox and Victor Spinetti. The soundtrack is pretty choice as well, because you have Johnny Matthis singing "Most of All There's You," which had music written by Riz Ortolani.

It's funny reading interviews with Annakin and Robinson, as they both didn't think much of Welch, who they either said winged all of her lines and didn't learn them or that she was just using her body instead of being an actress. Robert Wagner wrote that she was late so many times that Robinson cut a ten-minute promo on her, leaving Welch in tears.

She was late again the next day.

Purusing the reviews (both critical, from the time, and present day amateur viewers), I wasn't really expecting much outside your typical late 60's comedy caper, and what a thrill I got. The opening shot over the mountains panning into a remote cemetery, the over-the-top mourning and Vittorio de Sica's conversation in the town car with Robert Wagner, Geoffrey Cambridge and others, and the revelation that he was being kidnapped. Finally, the entrance of Raquel Welch as Wagner's girlfriend and soon the revelation that none of his family and friends were willing to pay to get de Sica back.

All the while, I kept hearing the beautiful opening theme song sung by Johnny Mathis in my ears, and waiting for the arrival of the legendary Edward G. Robinson, playing an expert on large heists going back to the Capone days. Right up Little Caesar's alley. After Wagner refuses de Sica'a sad request to kill him ("Squish me like a fly!"), he offers them an opportunity to make lots of money by planning the robbery of platinum ingots from a train, and the caper is off and running, and delightful.

Perhaps it's the mood of the film, lighthearted and frequently silly, so it was a change of pace from what I'd been watching. Welch doesn't get much to do outside of just being sensual, and Wagner is playing a similar kind of character I'd already been used to seeing him as. But de Sica is great, and Robinson's always commanding. A funny scene between de Sica and Yvonne Sanson as a conquest of his he attempts to steal jewels from had me chortling aloud. Lively, stylish and fun, and nostalgic for the kind of film they haven't made in decades.

TITLE: THE BIGGEST BUNDLE OF THEM ALL was release in theaters in the United States on July 17 1968. The Biggest Bundle of Them All is a 1968 American crime film set in Napoli, Italy. The story is about a mobster and a novice gang of crooks who team up to steal $5 million worth of platinum ingots from a train. The film stars Robert Wagner and Raquel Welch and was directed by Ken Annakin.

SUMMARY: The movie opens with a funeral where Cesare Celli is morning one of his oldest and dearest friends. As Celli is walking away from the funeral, he starts talking about the old days. Ethers Harry who along with four other guys has a car waiting for Celli. Celli gets into the car with Harry and they tell Celli there taking him home. However, Celli realizes that there going the wrong way. Enters Julianna who is Harry's girlfriend. With them all in the car, Harry has them stop at a very usage house. After Harry gets Celli inside the house, he demands money from Celli. Harry has money problems including some bad habits and Julianna expensive taste. Harry tells Celli he wants 50 thousand dollars and he wants it in cash. When Celli tells him, he doesn't have the money Celli tells Harry to call the states. Harry calls the states only to have the person hang up on him. Therefore, Celli makes the phone call only to find out that the person he needs to talk to has passed out on his bed. So when that fails Celli gives harry a list of names to go visit so he can get his 50 thousand dollars. After Harry makes his visit he finds out that Celli his a worthless bum and nobody had good things to say about him and no one wanted to help Celli. Therefore, Celli decides to turn Harry and his friends into his own mob. Harry and Celli agree that whatever job they do that the split will be 60-40. Cell tells the gang not to bother him until after breakfast the next Moring. Harry is very confident that him and Celli can work together. The next day Celli takes his new gang to see an old friend

QUESTIONS: What kind of background did the Professor have? Who was the Professor? What did Celli and the Professor have in mind? How did Celli get to know the Professor? What did the Professor pass around? What problem did Harry have with the Professor plan? Who was riding in the boat? Who did Celli walk in on? Who was shooting at Celli and why?

MY THOUGHTS: I thought this movie was boring for the simple fact that it was filmed in Italy. There was no action or drama in this movie the kind that kept your interest through the entire movie. That was the bad part of this movie. Now the reason why to watch this movie. Raquel Welch! She was gorgeous in this movie There were four particular scenes in this movie involving Raquel that you can't miss. The first was when she was dancing around the patio in here pink pantsuit. The second scene is when she comes running out of the ocean in her orange bikini. The third scene is when she dancing on the beach in her orange bikini and the fourth is when she shows up to Celli wearing a blue nightgown. Because of the lack of action and drama, I would give this movie 5 weasel stars. However, because of Raquel Welch and her talent and her gorgeous body I give this movie 10 weasel stars. You can get this movie at Amazon.com