Curator Watchlist
Gambit
A stylish, twisty caper with a playful structure, strong star chemistry, and a clever balance of comedy and suspense. Its biggest appeal is watching a seemingly airtight plan get steadily undermined by human reality.
Curator Watchlist
A stylish, twisty caper with a playful structure, strong star chemistry, and a clever balance of comedy and suspense. Its biggest appeal is watching a seemingly airtight plan get steadily undermined by human reality.
Where to watch: Buy
Fri · 1h 49m
Director: Ronald Neame
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine, Herbert Lom
Harry Dean is a career burglar set on stealing a piece of priceless art from the world's wealthiest man, Mr. Shahbandar. With the help of exotic showgirl Nicole Chang, he concocts the perfect scheme for how the robbery should go and lays it out point by point. However, when the team tries to execute the plan, perfection and reality don't quite match up, and Harry's vision begins to unravel in this twisty tale of a heist gone wrong.
Ronald Neame
Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine, Herbert Lom
A stylish, twisty caper with a playful structure, strong star chemistry, and a clever balance of comedy and suspense. Its biggest appeal is watching a seemingly airtight plan get steadily undermined by human reality.
Gambit is a polished, mischievous caper that gets a lot of mileage out of its structure. The opening lays out a robbery with such confidence that the movie almost dares you to trust it, then slowly reveals how much of the plan depends on assumptions, performance, and wishful thinking.
The pleasure here is less in brute suspense than in watching the film keep re-framing what you think you know. Michael Caine is all cool precision and sly self-belief, while Shirley MacLaine brings wit, charm, and a crucial sense of volatility that keeps the whole scheme from feeling mechanical.
It does show its age in its treatment of setting and ethnicity, and some viewers may find the period attitudes distracting. But as a sleek 1960s crime comedy with a smart central conceit and a satisfying sense of comic unraveling, it remains an easy recommendation.
ziwe (5★) · 138 likes
let her speak!!!!!!!! And let him cook!!! This movie is so fun and so surprising and so thoughtful. Wow I’m stunned
Sam (3.5★) · 102 likes
It’s one of them 60s crime gems which stars the brilliant peak Micheal Caine and the very good Shirley MacLaine. It doesn’t exactly go the way you think it will and is pretty smart at times but it’s a pretty fun time it’s definitely no Italian job but it’s a sharp little crime caper which I would recommend. Previous review-Halloween ResurrectionUp next-Becoming John Malkovich
🇵🇱 Steve G 🐝 (4★) · 92 likes
Films I Watched On TV While I Was 'Working' I really wish I'd watched this when I was feeling better because I don't feel as though I concentrated on it well enough to really appreciate what a smart and charming crime comedy this really is. There's no question that the opening 20 minutes or so are amongst the most narratively daring that I have seen in any crime film. Essentially starting the film with the perfect crime, deliberately played out… more
JBird (4★) · 78 likes
Spend some time with the Michael Caine, Who convinces Shirley MacLaine, To do a heist, For art that's high-priced, And maybe meet him at the plane.
Handman (4★) · 74 likes
Expectations vs. Reality: The Movie.
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Broad, elaborate, and very of its era, with a comic sense of competition and escalating absurdity.
A classic con game film that thrives on misdirection, confidence, and the satisfaction of a well-built scam.
A dryly funny jewel-heist film where the robbery keeps going wrong in increasingly amusing ways.
A caper-minded ensemble adventure that mixes crime plotting with breezy, offbeat humor.
A tightly engineered crime thriller that shares the pleasure of watching a plan unfold under pressure.
heist gone wrong, deception and performance, battle of wits, romantic tension, class and wealth, plan versus reality, identity and disguise, comic suspense
heist, crime comedy, caper, twist, mid-century, suspense, romance, cat-and-mouse, art theft, stylish