User Reviews

This entertaining 'crime-does-not-pay' European heist caper pits mastermind safe-cracker Kirk Douglas against his trapeze artist sidekick Giuliano Gemma as well as his former Teutonic criminal underworld boss Wolfgang Preiss. "Goliath and the Sins of Babylon" director Michele Lupo's suspenseful yarn boasts intrigue, betrayal, and a demolition-derby car chase in Hamburg, Germany, as our hero sets out to pull another one of those formulaic fool-proof last jobs. "Un uomo da rispettare" benefits from the terrific widescreen cinematography of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" lenser Tonino Delli Colli and his use of 'Dutch' tilt angles. Composer Ennio Morricone contributes a minimalist orchestral score while Lupo relies on Mozart's Symphony 40 in two scenes. The twist is that our anti-heroic protagonist stages one robbery but plans to be caught for another robbery so as throw the German police and the villains off the scent. Naturally, nothing goes as planned in this ingenious but familiar caper. Like Richard Brooks' crime caper "Dollars" (1971), Lupo's film focuses on a bank that contain ultra-sophisticated security systems to safeguard their assets.

"Un uomo da rispettare" opens with marked police cars rampaging around the city while Detective Hoffman (Reinhard Kolldehoff of "Shout at the Devil") transports convicted career criminal Steve Wallace (Kirk Douglas of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral") home to his wife Anna (Florinda Bolkan of "The Last Valley") after having served three years in prison. No sooner does the police car leave Wallace in front of his house than a carload of thugs cruise up. One of the ruffians informs Wallace that their boss, Miller (Wolfgang Preiss of "Raid on Rommel"), wants to talk to him. Reluctantly, Wallace accompanies them to see the well-heeled Miller in his huge office above a casino. Miller surrounds himself with an array of electronic gadgets to present his proposition for a heist with a million dollar payday. "I've got a job only you can do," he explains. "Now, listen carefully, you must knock out this alarm system. It's called 'Big Ben.' If it goes off, the whole city can hear it." Miller shows Wallace the vault on the top floor where the International Insurance Company has a cool million. "Now I know you can handle this safe, Steve, but Big Ben is the problem. The buzzing of a fly, a footstep, a deep breath is enough to trip the alarm." Miller pauses and then observes in an effort to entice Wallace. "Nobody has ever thought of it before." Wallace refuses flatly to pull the job for Miller. Before he worked for Miller, Wallace never encountered trouble. He wound up serving three years in prison when he did his first job for Miller. Nevertheless, Wallace tours the building and finds the edifice decked out with surveillance galore. He heads up to the top floor to snoop around but the disembodied voice of a woman interrupts him. He tells her that he has an appointment with Mr. Schmitt. The woman at a central control desk tells him that Schmitt's office is located on the second floor. Miller's rough-hewn henchman (Romano Puppo of "Death Rides A Horse") spots him leaving the building. He tries to persuade Wallace to see Miller again. Wallace refuses. While they are talking, a young man in an old jalopy, Marco (Giuliano Gemma), pulls up behind the henchman and honks at him. The two tangle in a rough and tumble fight with Marco demonstrating his agility. Miller's man brandishes a pistol. Wallace intervenes and knocks the gun out of the thug's fist.

Wallace and Marco become fast friends as a result of this chance encounter. Wallace convinces Anna he can steal millions without being held accountable if he stages one robbery but takes the fall for another lesser robbery. If everything goes according to plan, Wallace calculates that--under German law--he will only serve 18 months from robbing a pawn shop. Unfortunately, Marco relies too heavily on his switchblade knife. Earlier, Wallace warns Marco sternly about this predilection. Director Lupo does a good job of staging the International Insurance safe-cracking job. Wallace decides to pull the job in the afternoon rather than at night. He slips into the building just after it has closed and looks like just another businessman with a bag that contains his instruments. Meantime, Anna makes appropriate phone calls at the precise moments to distract the uniformed guards while our hero sets up an array of gadgets to warn him when the guards are making their rounds. He uses Mozart music to skillfully distract the 'Big Ben' alarm system. Furthermore, after he gains access to the vault room, Wallace sprinkles powder on the push-buttons that must be punched according to a sequence to raise the circular vault out of the floor. He uses the powder to determine which buttons have fingerprints on them. Pretty savvy!!! Unfortunately, the best laid plans go awry when poor Marco kills the guard. You'd think after his knock down, drag-out brawl with Miller's henchman that Marco could have beaten the guard and left him unconscious. That isn't the point. The guard must be found down and at the last moment so that it comes as a complete surprise to Wallace.

"Un uomo da rispettare" is one of those crime caper films made after the demise of the Production Code. Earlier, Hollywood as well as European films would never allow criminals to escape with their ill-gotten gains. This would constituted a prescription for anarchy. Filmmakers could not make such a radical, anti-status-quo statement. The idea that 'crime could pay' would have been considered unethical! Cleverly, however, Lupo and scenarists Roberto Leoni, Franco Bucceri, Mino Roli, and Nico Ducci create suspense by letting Wallace get away with one robbery, only to be nabbed for another one! After all, this is a testament to Wallace's brilliance as a safe-cracker. The slam-bang car chase between Marco and Miller's lieutenant around Hamburg is amusing.

Greed always gets the best of you. This is quite an entertaining yarn, involving the breaking of a massive safe, to steal a huge amount of money. Just out of prison, Kirk Douglas is the"Master" of the title in English. He is the new Jimmy Valentine. He doesn't hesitate a bit, getting involved with an acrobatic circus aerialist and dragging his long suffering wife into the fray. Of course, there's a complex set of technological hurdles that must be overcome. This is really the highlight of the film as Douglas masterminds all these machines, knowing the inner workings of enormous safes. We are left to trust that he has this kind of knowledge. Early on we know that he is the best. Somewhat like the battle at the end of Von Stroheim's "Greed," the adversaries are left to battle for their lives. The money becomes an albatross and therein lies the finish. There are a number of questions I would have asked as a perceptive viewer but it would reveal too much of the plot. Suffice it to say, there are some real holes, both in the script and in the reality of things. It's still a darn good theft film.

In its 92-minutes DVD version, this expensive and expansively produced Italian movie filmed on location in Hamburg, packs in plenty of fast-paced action. Kirk Douglas makes the best of a meaty role and he is well supported by Florinda Bolkan as the girl friend who has had enough excitement and Guiliano Gemma (sic on the Alpha DVD) who is about to experience his baptism of fire on the wrong side of the law. The music score by Ennio Morricone is effective while watching the movie but gives you nothing to hum about when you leave the theatre, but I guess you can't have everything. The bargain-priced Alpha DVD is reasonably well-framed even though it is presented in a halfway fashion midway between full screen and scope. Well, as I've already said, I guess you can't have everything, and this movie is a most definite MUST for all Kirk Douglas fans.

Well it appears that everyone likes the car chase scene here. It WAS rather well done, and the bonus was having one of the transport cars fall off it's rig on top of the Miller henchman (Romano Puppo) vehicle. You would think the nameless tough guy would have learned his lesson after getting the snot kicked out of him by Marco (Giuliano Gemma) the previous two times. Come to think of it, the liquor shop brawl was pretty classic as well.

I saw this flick under the title "The Master Touch", and it seemed fairly apropos considering the plot. Kirk Douglas portrays a safe cracker just released from prison who gets the idea for one last heist after turning down a former employer in favor of going it alone. Except he doesn't go it alone, and it all might have worked out if pretty boy Marco had ditched the knife like Wallace (Douglas) told him to. The parallel heists were another bonus, with Marco's job providing the cover alibi Wallace needed to escape scrutiny for the million dollar take. I wonder if Miller ever figured that out?

The film has one thing you're not likely ever to see again once you've seen it here. When Marco double crosses Wallace and steals the big bundle in the suitcase, Wallace gives chase across huge mounds of coal near the Hamburg docks. You have to hand it to the film makers, they tried hard to come up with something original.

A not bad but also not so great heist film. Kirk Douglas is a recently released from prison safe-cracker who, after turning down an offer from the Mob, decides to pull the job himself. He recruits circus gymnast Giuliano Gemma. Mayhem ensues. Douglas and Gemma soon find themselves pursued by mafia goon Romano Puppo as well as entangled in a really goofy love triangle with Douglas's infinitely patient girlfriend (Florinda Bolkan). Director Michele Lupo keeps the pace moving quickly and there's at least one excellent and creative car chase sequence involving Puppo & Gemma. Though an Italian production, most of the filming appears to have been done in Germany. Douglas is fine, not just slumming it in an Giallo quickie. The striking Bolkan gives a terrific performance. The music is by Ennio Morricone and the cinematography is by the great Tonino Delli Colli, who managed to work with everyone in Italy (from Wertmuller and Fellini to Pasolini and Leone).

Un Uomo Da Rispettare (or The Master Touch, as it is known in the English-speaking world) is a German-Italian crime caper which finds a big Hollywood star in the lead role. This was a common ploy with European films of the 60s and 70s, presumably with the aim of securing a wider market for their film… John Mills, Roger Moore, George Kennedy, Richard Burton, Oliver Reed and many other established talents all lent their names to one or more of these Euro-trash movies at some point or other. Here, the big name in question is Kirk Douglas, playing against type as a career criminal with his eyes fixed on one final score.

Just released from a three year jail sentence, thief Steve Wallace (Kirk Douglas) heads back home to reunite with his wife Anna (Florinda Bolkan). Before he gets there, he is accosted by crimelord Muller (Wolfgang Preiss), who tries to persuade Steve to do a job for him – the near-impossible burglary of a million dollars worth of insurance money from a high-tech building in Hamburg. Steve refuses, pointing out that he always did well enough working for himself, and was only jailed in the first place after disastrously attempting to do a job for Muller. However, Steve is secretly intrigued at the prospect of going after this huge prize. He enlists a circus trapeze artist named Marco (Giuliano Gemma) and persuades him to carry out a small robbery at a local pawn shop, carried out at exactly the same moment that he plans to steal the fortune in insurance money. Steve's plan is to take the rap for the pawn shop job – a mere 18 months in jail – while in actual fact he has really carried out the much bigger insurance money robbery. Neither Muller, nor the cops, will realise he is responsible for the bigger crime and the money will be waiting for him when he is released from prison. But can he really trust his new partner in crime? And will his long-suffering wife wait another 18 months to be with her man?

Although it contains an intriguing idea – deliberately getting caught for a small crime to disguise a large one – Un Uomo Da Rispettare is generally a lacklustre and disappointing affair. There's a good car chase halfway through and Douglas is in decent form as the villain, but apart from these scant pickings the film doesn't amount to much. The characters are thinly developed and hard to care for; Morricone's score is unexceptional (by Morricone standards, anyway); the robbery itself lacks any true sense of tension due to a confused and under-developed build-up. There are far better examples of these crime caper-style films out there… this one is for genre aficionados and Kirk Douglas completists only.

If it wasn't for the lengthy chase sequence that comes about half an hour into the film, I certainly would have given this a much lower rating. It was a chance for Kirk Douglas to go to Italy for work and a nice vacation, but as far as a good movie, it's sorely lacking. What it does have however is a chase sequence that has to be seen to be believed, up there with "Bullet" and "The French Connection". The main plot involves a complex caper scheme that isn't really all that interesting, too complicated and filled with detail that after a while becomes too cumbersome to follow. Great location footage and some classical music helps, but Douglas isn't even putting forth any effort to act, and the high tech (for early 70's high tech that is) is trying too hard to rip off Bond.

But that chase sequence is fantastic, 10/10 as far as Trey sequences go, and just as soon as you feel it's his Heights, something more exciting happens. The two cars involved in the sequence end up ramming an innocent car caught in the middle from each end, and then another car that is nearby ends on top of another one oh, all of a sudden flying off at a very high speed. One of the cars ends up turning instantly into a convertible as it goes through a railroad stop. And then there's the ramp going up so we both can get through a canal, and that ends at in a fascinating way. Worth a one-time deal in just for that and for Douglas fans, but for most of the time, I was just plain bored.

Michele Lupo directed this Morricone—scored Eurothriller made after all the precepts of the art; the cast is _prima—Douglas, Gemma and Mrs. Bolkan (a '70s lean supple _cutie _hottie, in case anyone is rude enough to inquire …).

Genre—wise, THE MASTER TOUCH is a very straightforward gritty caper. The regular elements of a Eurothriller are on display—streetwise characters, car—chases, fistfights (between Gemma, here a circus acrobat, and his nemesis). A good caper functions on the diversity of the crooks involved—e.g., Gabin and Delon; or, Pitt, Clooney, etc.; or, here, Douglas and Gemma.

The score is scarce but very atmospheric—dramatic and creepy, enhancing the suspense. This chilling music is, as mentioned previously, Morricone's.

The denouement scene on the waterfront is both exciting, awesome, and iconic, coining some iconic frames for all three protagonists—Douglas, deceived; Gemma, scared; and Mrs. Bolkan, so cool, a genuine noir woman. The names allude to Douglas playing an American, and Mrs. Bolkan, a Hispanic babe, though the action is set in Germany.

Gemma was, of course, a '70s Italian (anachronistic) cross between a Pitt and a Willis—anyway, smoother than Willis and less talented than Pitt ….

Pals, if you are as addicted to Eurothrillers as I believe you are, then there's no further need to add that these flicks are distinguished by a singular gritty sharpness, their melodrama is sharp and singularly appealing. I have done a few entries here on this genre—movies with Nero, Delon ….