How to Steal a Million (1966)

Romantic comedy about a woman who must steal a statue from a Paris museum to help conceal her father's art forgeries, and the man who helps her.

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

George Bradshaw (based on a story by), Harry Kurnitz (screenplay)

Stars:

Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Eli Wallach

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Audrey Hepburn	...	Nicole Bonnet
Peter O'Toole	...	Simon Dermott
Eli Wallach	...	Davis Leland
Hugh Griffith	...	Charles Bonnet
Charles Boyer	...	DeSolnay
Fernand Gravey	...	Grammont
Marcel Dalio	...	Senor Paravideo
Jacques Marin	...	Chief Guard
Moustache	...	Guard
Roger Tréville	...	Auctioneer (as Roger Treville)
Edward Malin	...	Insurance Clerk (as Eddie Malin)
Bert Bertram	...	Marcel

Storyline

In Paris, wealthy Charles Bonnet is well known in the art world as a collector of rare pieces, mostly of the impressionist masters. He will on occasion sell paintings from his collection at auction. In reality, he is an art forger, he only reproducing those pieces known to have gone missing. His daughter, Nicole Bonnet, wants him to stop this business fearing that some day soon he will get caught. She is most concerned about he loaning out his Cellini Venus statue to the Kléber-Lafayette Museum, as she knows that technology can now test for things such as material age which would prove that the statue and by association he is a fraud. He ends up causing a problem for himself when he signs a $1 million insurance policy for the statue for the museum, which unwittingly allows them to test the piece for its authenticity. To save her father from jail, Nicole feels the only thing she can do is try to steal the statue from the gallery which may not be the easiest thing to do especially as ...

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Plot Keywords:

museum | burglar | police | insurance | forgery | 

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Taglines:

Having a Wonderful Crime! Wish You Were Here!

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

19 August 1966 (UK)

Also Known As:

William Wyler's How to Steal a Million

Filming Locations:

Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

World Wide Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Color by Deluxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the pistol discharges it remains solidly on the table pointing in Simon's direction. Recoil would have certainly knocked the pistol off the table and sent the bullet wide, missing Simon entirely.

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Goofs

When Simon replaced the Venus with the wine bottle he placed the bottle near the edge of the green plinth but when the guard is pointing at the bottle it is in the center of the plinth.

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Quotes

Simon Dermott: [reviving Nicole from her faint] I'm the one that's bleeding!

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Connections

Featured in Star Wars: Music by John Williams (1980)

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Soundtracks

La Marseillaise
(1792) (uncredited)
Written by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
In the score when the statue is transported to the museum

User Reviews

" You don't think I would steal something that didn't belong to me do you?"

If you are searching for a movie with wit, charm and delightful comedy in it, you've found it. "How to Steal a Million" is perhaps one of the finest Audrey Hepburn's films around. It's the story of a reclusive though slightly devious painter and forger (Hugh Griffith) Charles Bonnet who aside from his practice of recreating masterpieces and selling them to eccentric private collectors decides to donate a priceless but fake sculpture from his private collection to the La Fayette museum to be viewed by the general public. Not wanting to lose it to theft without compensation, the museum insures it for $1,000.000 dollars. However the insurance company wants it appraised to see if it's genuine and calls in an expert who will use modern techniques to ascertain it's authenticity. If it's discovered to be a fake, the painter, his reputation and his family will be ruined. Thus his beautiful daughter Nicole (Audrey Hepburn) must hire master bugler Simon Dermott, (Peter O'Toole) to steal it from the heavily guarded museum. At the same time, she is being pursued by Davis Leland (Eli Wallach) an American millionaire who wants to marry her. What neither Nicole, nor her father suspect is that Mr. Dermott is more than a shy bugler, he too is interested in the painter's secret hobby and his daughter. Excellent film for the family. ****