Grand Slam (1967 film)
| Grand Slam Original Title: Ad ogni costo | |
|---|---|
 Grand Slam film poster | |
| Directed by | Giuliano Montaldo |
| Produced by |
Arrigo Colombo Giorgio Papi |
| Written by |
Paolo Bianchini Augusto Caminito Mino Roli |
| Starring |
Janet Leigh Klaus Kinski Edward G. Robinson Adolfo Celi Robert Hoffmann Riccardo Cucciolla |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Cinematography | Antonio Macasoli |
| Edited by | Nino Baragli |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Running time | 119 min. |
| Country |
Italy Spain West Germany |
| Language | English |
Grand Slam (Ad ogni costo) is a 1967 Italian crime film directed by Giuliano Montaldo and stars Edward G Robinson, Klaus Kinski and Janet Leigh.[1]
Plot
A seemingly mild-mannered teacher, Professor James Anders (Robinson), is an American working in Rio de Janeiro. Bored with years of teaching, Anders retires and sets about putting together a team to pull off a diamond heist during the Rio Carnival in Brazil.
With the aid of a youth friend, now a successful criminal, Anders recruites a team of four international experts to carry out the robbery: an English safe cracking specialist, an Italian mechanical and electronics genius, a French playboy (whose job it is to seduce the only woman with a key to the building holding the diamonds, the lovely Mary Ann), and a German military (at the end of the movie it will be clear that the Anders's friend had ordered him to kill the other members of the team after the job is finished.
The team develops a series of mechanical devices to defeat the layers of protection built within the building in which the diamonds are stored, which also comprises a new "Grand Slam 70" safe system: an alarm triggered by any sound detected near the safe room. Lasers criscross the entry corridor and a sensitive microphone listens for sounds while the safe and its environs are secured.
The team successfully enters the safe using a pneumatic trestle to bypass the lasers by crawling over them and shaving cream to dampen their sounds. However, the day after the police is alerted by Mary Ann who has found that the safe key had been temporarily taken and all the 4 members of the team are killed during their escape.
Anders ends up with the diamonds in a small letters case, sitting in an outdoor cafe...but loses them in the film's last scene to a thief gang on a motorcycle.
Cast
- Janet Leigh - Mary Ann
- Robert Hoffmann - Jean-Paul Audry
- Klaus Kinski - Erich Weiss
- Riccardo Cucciolla - Agostino Rossi
- George Rigaud - Gregg
- Adolfo Celi - Mark Milford
- Edward G. Robinson - Prof. James Anders
- Jussara - Stetuaka
- Miguel Del Castillo - Manager
- Luciana Angiolillo
- Valentino Macchi
- Anny Degli Uberti
- Aldo Bonamano
References
- ↑ Adler, Renata; Thompson, Howard (February 21, 1968). "Movie Review". The New York Times.