The Heist (1971)
"$" (original title)

A bank security expert plots with a call girl to rob three safety deposit boxes containing $1.5 million in cash belonging to three very different criminals from a high-tech security bank in Hamburg, Germany.

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writer:

Richard Brooks

Stars:

Warren Beatty, Goldie Hawn, Gert Fröbe

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Warren Beatty	...	Joe Collins
Goldie Hawn	...	Dawn Divine
Gert Fröbe	...	Mr. Kessel
Robert Webber	...	Attorney
Scott Brady	...	Sarge
Arthur Brauss	...	Candy Man
Robert Stiles	...	Major
Wolfgang Kieling	...	Granich
Bob Herron	...	Bodyguard (as Robert Herron)
Christiane Maybach	...	Helga
Hans Hutter	...	Karl
Monica Stender	...	Berta
Horst Hesslein	...	Bruno
Wolfgang Kuhlman	...	Furcoat
Klaus Schichan	...	Knifeman (as Klaus Tschichan)

Storyline

Several criminals use safe deposit boxes in a German bank to store large amounts of illicit cash. An employee of the bank learns who they are by means of a prostitute they all patronize, and devises a clever plan with her to steal the money. Now the criminals can't go to the police, but they can try to steal the money back...

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Plot Keywords:

germany | drugs | safe deposit | heist | hamburg germany | 

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Taglines:

The BIG bank-heist is on!

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Genres:

Crime | Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

17 December 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der Millionenraub

Filming Locations:

Alter Elbtunnel, St. Pauli, Hamburg-Mitte, Hamburg, Germany

Box Office

Gross:

SEK 752,056 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Pan, Worldwide

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gert Fröbe appears in this movie as a bank manager. His character and casting is designed to connect with his screen persona from the James Bond film Goldfinger. As Auric Goldfinger in that movie, he was a villain who loved gold, had it as part of his personal artifacts and his scheme was to rob it from Fort Knox. In this movie, as Mr. Kessel, he is seen handling gold bars and his bank is the film's equivalent to Fort Knox.

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Goofs

It appears that there was an error in Sarge's calculation of how much the Candy Man's heroin-filled baseballs were worth: if "one baseball is worth $19,000, and the Candy Man has prepared 24 of them", then $19,000 multiplied by 24 is only $456,000, not $470,000. Each baseball would have to be worth $19,583.33&1/3 for 24 balls to be worth $470,000.

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Quotes

Dawn Divine: He could have killed me too, you know?
Joe Collins: That's right.
Dawn Divine: I hate him!
Joe Collins: Damn waste of time!
Dawn Divine: I don't care! I could kill him!
Joe Collins: Hey, stealing's a business, not a crusade.

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Crazy Credits

The title (that is, the original title "$") appears only in the form of a giant character, as would be used in a sign, being transported by a crane while the other opening credits are displayed in the usual way.

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Soundtracks

"Do It To It"
Written by Quincy Jones (uncredited)
Sung by Little Richard

User Reviews

A light and easy to watch comedic heist film

$ is a light comedic heist movie with some solid performances from its lead stars Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn. The film is set in Hamburg Grtmany and most of the film was filmed there.

The movie starts out with the crooks depositing there money in safe deposit boxes. While Joe Collins(Warren Beatty) is giving security tips to the banks manger. Dawn Devine (Goldie Hawn) is a hooker who seems to have a connection to some of the crooks and Joe. Joe conceives of a way to steal the crooks money because they cannot go to the police for protection. It ends with a fairly good chase scene and the rest plays out as you would expect.

The acting in this film is first rate from Beatty and Hawne down to many of the supporting actors. The film is fast paced and moves along at a good pace. I did not like so many dark night time scenes these are done much better now with digital cameras.

Overall an enjoyable light film that seems to go down well.

Grade C+