Gambit

(1966)
Directed by Ronald Neame
Written by Jack Davis (screenplay) and Alvin Sargent (screenplay); story by Sidney Carroll
Starring:  Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine, Herbert Lom
IMDB Entry

Caper films are always entertaining, but the key – like with anything else – is to keep them fresh.  Gambit is an attempt to try a little big different with the genre with a tricky plot and lost of double crossing.

Harry Dean (Michael Caine) discovered Nicole Chang (Shirley MacLaine), who is a Hong Kong showgirl.  She also bears a striking resemblance to the late wife of a wealthy man, Shahbandar (Herbert Lom), which leads to Dean’s plan:  Nicole will meet with Shahbandar as a way to get into his apartment, and Harry will use the distraction to steal a valuable statuette of Shahbander’s wife.  It seems rather simple at first, but begins to get more and more complex at time goes on.

The movie has several gimmicks.  First of all MacLaine does not speak during the first half hour of the film, as the plot is revealed.  It seems to go off perfectly, but it turns out that it didn’t work at all, and the real plot involves multiple twists so that you can’t really know what’s going on until the end.

At the time it came out, Maclaine was a top star and she’s wonderful, first as the mysterious dancer, and later as a real person.  Michael Caine was still a rising star when cast, but his success in The Ipcress File had started his career.*  He gives his usual fine performance.

The movie has pretty much been forgotten.  Director Ronald Neame had an up-and-down career, with successes like The Poseidon Adventure and The Prime of Miss Jean Brody, but nothing that really put him on the map. 

The movie does have some wonderful ideas, well executed, but time seems to have left it alone.

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*Alfie, which gave him wider stardom, was released just before Gambit.