| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Peter Sellers | ... | ||
| Victor Mature | ... |
Tony Powell
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| Britt Ekland | ... |
Gina Romantica
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| Martin Balsam | ... |
Harry Granoff
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| Akim Tamiroff | ... |
Okra
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| Paolo Stoppa | ... |
Polio
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Tino Buazzelli | ... |
Siepi
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Mac Ronay | ... |
Carlo
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Lydia Brazzi | ... |
Mamma Vanucci
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Lando Buzzanca | ... |
Police Chief
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Maria Grazia Buccella | ... |
Bikini Girl
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Maurice Denham | ... |
Chief of Interpol
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Tiberio Murgia | ... |
1st Detective
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Francesco De Leone | ... |
2nd Detective
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Carlo Croccolo | ... |
Café Owner
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Peter Sellers plays Aldo Vanucci (aka the Fox), one of the greatest criminals of the world and master of disguise. After Aldo escapes from the Italian prison he was held in, he meets again with his friends and plans to retrieve the "gold of Cairo", a large shipment of gold that waits to be unloaded somewhere in Italy. Aldo devises the perfect plan- posing as a famous director, he finds the ideal coastal village to unload the shipment, and persuades the entire population that he has chosen their village as the set for his new movie. Everybody, including the idiot chief of the local police is so excited, that they can't even imagine that in fact they are helping the Fox to get the "gold of Cairo"... Written by Chris Makrozahopoulos <makzax@hotmail.com>
This is actually my favorite Peter Sellers film, and my favorite Neil Simon script, though I suppose I'm in the minority there. I just love it to pieces, though, and re-watch it at least once a year. Sellers as thief in prison, as devoted son and stern brother, as American tourist, and especially as a Felliniesque film director--it's just terrific stuff, he is so pricelessly funny, and yet there is somehow a little less of him and more of a script than there is in the Blake Edwards films, which is why I think I like it better. And I do think Victor Mature is marvelous in it too, with a touching wistfulness underneath all the vain posturing. Ditto the chief of police. The sets are fabulous too, and so is the Bacharach music, much of it deliciously cheerfully Italianate but also the wonderfully catchy main title sung by Sellers himself with the Hollies (that would be Graham Nash later of Crosby, Stills and Nash).
There are certain things about the film that remind me of The Producers, though the comedy style is not quite the same. But anyway, not to be missed!