Mitahat La'af (1982)

Four men whose combined intellect does not reach into the triple digits decide to steal a safe full of foreign currency - not from a local bank, but from the police station. Based on a ... See full summary »

Director:

Jacob Goldwasser

Writers:

Jacob Goldwasser, Haim Marin

Stars:

Uri Gavriel, Moshe Ivgy, Makram Khoury

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Uri Gavriel	...	Sammy Ben-Tovim
Moshe Ivgy	...	Hertzel
Makram Khoury	...	Detective chief inspector Ben-Shooshan
Zadok Zarum	...	Uri Janna
Jocko Arkin	...	Jacob Khaguel
Shmuel Umani	...	Police Commander
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Reuven Dayan	...	Rahamim
Shoshana Doar	...	Mrs. Ben-Tovim
Yehudit Millo	...	Miriam
Adam Tson
David Tzabar
Daniel Wachsmann

Storyline

Four men whose combined intellect does not reach into the triple digits decide to steal a safe full of foreign currency - not from a local bank, but from the police station. Based on a real-life incident, the screenplay for this slapstick comedy-drama was co-written by a policeman, also a play-writer, Haim Merin, lending a certain voice of authority to the setting, and the director, Jacob Goldwasser. The comedic high point of the film is when the four thieves bumble and bang their way through the police station, while the policeman on guard duty slumbers on in blissful ignorance. The thieves may be running on more muscle than Gery matter, more chemicals than Dow, and more luck than forethought, but they pull off the supposedly impossible robbery. From that point onward though, luck dwindles away as their greed surpasses their grasp of how to follow up on their success.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Israel

Language:

Hebrew

Release Date:

1982 (Israel)

Also Known As:

Big Shots

Company Credits

Production Co:

Noah Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by Max V'Morris (1994)

User Reviews

petty criminals who lost their heads- a good version of the formula

if you keep track of my reviews (which i don't see any particular reason for you to it) you'll see that i'm criticizing many israeli films and many times, i am playing the devil's advocate. this movie is an example of how a country with limited resources, can make a great criminal movie that although(or should i say- because)it doesn't convey deep philosophies or a crying protest against the establishment, can still be fun to watch. the movie in short, deals with two petty thieves who are scraping their living and dream of their "big heat". one day, opportunity knocks in the shape of a large smuggled currency captured by the police and held in it's headquarters. the duo starts to plan the robbery and meanwhile expands it's team with a veteran criminal and it's friend who is in, shall we say, lukewarm friendship with those two. needless to say, there are many obstacles for that team to face, most of them are ego related, and without detailing about plot progress, the charachter problems take their toll the movie is acted wonderfully (shlomo ivgy shines in the era before he became a local icon and poorly miscasted in obscure movies). also it has a great unpretentious direction (yankol goldwasser's best work) and altogether a great to watch but apparently, hard to recreate movie)

9 out of 10 in my FilmOmeter. my personal second best israeli movie (right after "ha-lehaka")