Grand Slam **** (1967, Janet Leigh, Edward G Robinson, Robert Hoffmann, Klaus Kinski, George Rigaud, Riccardo Cucciolla, Adolfo Celi) – Classic Movie Review 10,206

Director Giuliano Montaldo’s 1967 Italian heist thriller film Grand Slam [Ad Ogni Costo] stars Edward G Robinson as mild-mannered American teacher Professor James Anders, who, after years of teaching in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, retires and plans a $10 million robbery from the Brazilian Diamond Company opposite his school. He sets about putting a team together to pull off a diamond heist during the Rio Carnival.

This taut, tense and suspenseful, Sixties international caper thriller is Italian, Spanish and West German made, with a talented, eclectic international cast of cult actors and globetrotting locations, including England; Paris, France; Barcelona, Spain; New York, America; Rome, Italy; and especially Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Anders (Robinson) approaches an old friend, Mark Milford (Adolfo Celi), now a successful criminal, and gets his help to recruit an international crew of expert professional help for his heist, including German ex-military man Erich Weiss (Klaus Kinski), French playboy Jean-Paul Audry (Robert Hoffmann), English safecracking specialist Gregg (George Rigaud), and Italian mechanical and electronics expert Agostino (Riccardo Cucciolla). Jean Paul’s job is to seduce the only woman with a key to the building holding the diamonds, the lovely Mary Ann (Janet Leigh), the company secretary, who conveniently has the safe key.

Unfortunately, the team of four come up against a new safe system called Grand Slam 70, an alarm triggered by any sound detected near the safe room, but they are on to that, and then of course there is the usual distrust and underhand dealings among the gang.

The sprightly performances, tight script and deft direction keep it unflaggingly entertaining over the two hours’ running time, there is another precious score from Ennio Morricone, and Grand Slam is grand of its kind. It is attractively shot by Antonio Macasoli in Technicolor and Techniscope. The long-extended sequence of the heist itself is extremely well done, all very tense and suspenseful. There is a slightly slow burn at the start, with the formation of the team and the meticulous preparations for the robbery, then the exciting middle section heist, and finally perhaps a slightly rushed conclusion with a quick succession of two or three satisfying little twists. In any case, the whole film runs satisfying well, slick and sleek throughout.

The actors in an ensemble cast are all good value. Janet Leigh is top billed in this boys’ movie, with a steely glint in her eyes, with the eye on the prize, just as she has as Marion Crane in Psycho, Klaus Kinski caches the eye as the crazy German at war with his French colleague, Robert Hoffmann is a suitably sleazy playboy (someone else Kinski’s character doesn’t like), Adolfo Celi is welcome as always, making his short screen time count, and Edward G Robinson oozes the wisdom of crocodiles as the crooked mastermind who looks like he’s thought of everything. The Argentine actor George Rigaud is an odd choice for the English safecracker, doing some true Brit out of a job, but he justifies his casting. He’s the very model of an English gentleman thief.

It all ends up, rather unexpectedly, near by the Coliseum in Rome. It is an Italian film, after all: Ad ogni costo, directed by the Italian director Giuliano Montaldo, who went on to make Machine Gun McCain and Sacco & Vanzetti for which Riccardo Cucciolla won the Best Actor Award at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival.

There are various versions in several languages all in different cuts at different lengths (121 minutes, 114 minutes).

The screenplay is written by Mino Roli, from an original story by Mino Roli, Augusto Caminito and Paolo Bianchini, with collaborators on screenplay Marcello Fondato, Augusto Caminito, José Antonio de la Loma, and Marcello Coscia.

The cast are Janet Leigh as Mary Ann, Edward G Robinson as Professor James Anders, Robert Hoffmann as Jean-Paul Audry, Klaus Kinski as Erich Weiss, Riccardo Cucciolla as Agostino Rossi, George Rigaud as Gregg, Adolfo Celi as Mark Milford, Jussara as Stetuaka, Miguel Del Castillo as Manager, Luciana Angiolillo, Valentino Macchi, Anny Degli Uberti, and Aldo Bonamano.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,206

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