I wanted to watch this Video but it is so slow in starting that I shelved it for some time this winter when I have been house bound for a week or two. The video arrived in excellent condition.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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PUT IT ON DVD PLEASE !!!!
Added 8/22/2007
I have to strongly disagree with nom... .This is a
delightful movie that will reel you in and then throw
you many curves.It starts off being a straight forward
heist.You are shown how it will work out.NOT !!! This
is when the fun begins.Caine and Maclaine are great together.
Suffice it to say,if you like heist movies with plot twists
then this is the movie for you.
Please bring it out on DVD.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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While the acting is really quite good
Added 5/5/2005
(Well, at least for the top 3 cast members; the others range from OK to just stinko in a few cases), the setting interesting, the plot intriguing, the direction fairly smooth and a few twists at least partially unexpected, Gambit is enjoyable as a story, but never really progresses past a certain point as a caper comedy. Something in it just doesn't jell, and it's tough to say exactly what. But the viewer has a feeling of something being missing. Any ideas?
1 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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Just Add Popcorn for this Memorable Romantic Comedy Caper
Added 3/20/2005
In the 1960s Hollywood combined the classic "caper" film with a healthy dose of romantic comedy. The result was a series of charming films such as CHARADE (1963) and HOW TO STEAL A MILLION (1966)--films that combined major stars, clever plots, witty scripts and which balanced suspense with comic and romantic complications.
Made in 1966 and released in 1967, GAMBIT was among the last of these films, and like all others in the genre it had a complex plot. Ahmad Shahbandar (Herbert Lom) is quite possibly the richest man in the world and a recluse to boot, a man who has never gotten over the death of his beautiful Eurasian wife some twenty years ago. Harry Dean (Michael Caine) devises a clever plan to gain access to his luxury apartment and rob him blind: he will use honky-tonk dancer Nicole Chang (Shirley MacLaine), who bears a striking resemblance to Shahbandar's long dead wife, to breach Shahbandar's defenses.
There's only one problem: it won't work. To tell exactly why it won't work is to betray the plot, which is extremely clever; suffice to say that Dean has made a number of incorrect assumptions about both the situation and the personalities involved. When the plot begins to twist, it does so in a truly unexpected way, taking both Dean and the audience completely by surprise.
This is the sort of film that Hollywood used to do so well but which we seldom see today, a frothy, glamorous confection with first rate production values and expert performances from major stars. MacLaine gets top billing, and she is quite fine, but the weight of the film rests on Caine and Lom, who give memorably dry performances, and director Ronald Neame (who was responsible for a host of memorable films including THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE) keeps everything moving along at a smart pace with plenty of style.
This may not be the best of the genre--I think both CHARADE and HOW TO STEAL A MILLION, to name but two, outpace it. But even so it is a perfectly charming film, the perfect antidote to a drab afternoon. Just add popcorn!
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
20 out of 20 people found this helpful.
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A Genuinely Fun Movie
Added 3/17/2004
Gambit shows us two superbly developing stars, Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine -- and in restrospect, you realize from watching this fine movie that they had what it takes, even back in the 1960s. Shirley was just superb as a street-wise nightclub dancer, and Michael was perfect as the crook with grand plans who never could seem to make things work just right. This is a funny film. Your kids will like it, if you can convince them to actually sit and watch it with you, and follow the plot. Gambit was a good precursor to Caine's best finagling movie, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels... you can see where he got practice appearing frustrated, the way his plans with Shirley kept going off track.
Enjoy.
12 out of 12 people found this helpful.
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I wanted to watch this Video but it is so slow in starting that I shelved it for some time this winter when I have been house bound for a week or two. The video arrived in excellent condition.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
PUT IT ON DVD PLEASE !!!!
Added 8/22/2007
I have to strongly disagree with nom... .This is a
delightful movie that will reel you in and then throw
you many curves.It starts off being a straight forward
heist.You are shown how it will work out.NOT !!! This
is when the fun begins.Caine and Maclaine are great together.
Suffice it to say,if you like heist movies with plot twists
then this is the movie for you.
Please bring it out on DVD.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
While the acting is really quite good
Added 5/5/2005
(Well, at least for the top 3 cast members; the others range from OK to just stinko in a few cases), the setting interesting, the plot intriguing, the direction fairly smooth and a few twists at least partially unexpected, Gambit is enjoyable as a story, but never really progresses past a certain point as a caper comedy. Something in it just doesn't jell, and it's tough to say exactly what. But the viewer has a feeling of something being missing. Any ideas?
1 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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