The Biggest Bundle of Them All
| The Biggest Bundle of Them All | |
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Promotional film poster by Robert McGinnis
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| Directed by | Ken Annakin |
| Produced by | Josef Shaftel Sy Stewart |
| Written by | Sy Salkowitz |
| Starring | Robert Wagner Raquel Welch Godfrey Cambridge Davy Kaye Francesco Mulé Vittorio De Sica Femi Benussi |
| Music by | Riz Ortolani |
| Cinematography | Piero Portalupi |
| Edited by | Ralph Sheldon |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release dates
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Running time
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105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Biggest Bundle of Them All is a 1968 American crime film set in Naples, Italy. The story is about a mobster and a novice gang of crooks who team up to steal $5 million worth of platinum ingots from a train. The film stars Robert Wagner and Raquel Welch and was directed by Ken Annakin.
Plot
American gangster Cesare Celli, hiding out in Italy, is kidnapped by Harry Price and his gang. Much to everyone's surprise, none of Cesare's friends or associates is willing to pay a ransom to get him back.
Unhappy with this development, Cesare offers to assist Harry and girlfriend Juliana in pulling off a daring robbery that could net them $5 million. Cesare even brings in criminal mastermind Professor Samuels to run the operation.
A jet bomber is hijacked to be used to transport the platinum ingots after the theft. Harry and the gang overcome many obstacles and the robbery is a great success, at least until the jet's bomb doors open unexpectedly and the loot falls out.
Cast
- Robert Wagner as Harry
- Raquel Welch as Juliana
- Godfrey Cambridge as Benny
- Davy Kaye as Davey
- Francesco Mulé as Antonio Tozzi
- Vittorio De Sica as Cesare Celli
- Edward G. Robinson as Professor Samuels
- Victor Spinetti as Captain Giglio
- Yvonne Sanson as Teresa
- Mickey Knox as Joe Ware
- Femi Benussi as Uncle Carlo's Wife
- Paola Borboni as Miss Rosa
- Aldo Bufi Landi as Captain Del Signore
- Carlo Croccolo as Franco
- Roberto De Simone as Uncle Carlo
- Piero Gerlini as Captain Capuano
- Giulio Marchetti as Lt. Naldi
- Andrea Aureli as Carabiniere
- Ermelinda De Felice as Emma
- Milena Vukotic as Angelina Pedrone
- Carlo Rizzo as Maitre d'Hotel
- Nino Vingelli as Restaurant Manager
Production
Director Ken Annakin recalled that ten days into pre-production of the film, then titled The Italian Caper, a story reader from MGM discovered an old script in their archives that had the same story as the film, and that script was currently being filmed as The Happening by producer Sam Spiegel for Columbia Pictures. Producer Josef Shaftel met Spiegel with the result that he had to give up his 15% share of the profits, Spiegel had the power to approve every page of the shooting script, and the film, retitled The Biggest Bundle of Them All would not be released until six months after The Happening (which had a delayed release).[1]
The interior scenes were filmed at the Cinecittà studios in Rome. The movie was released in France as "La Bande à César". The B-17 airplane used was B-17G-85VE 44-8846 and actual World War II combat veteran aircraft. Currently being flown by the Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis Museum.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ p. 19i Annakin, Ken so You Wanna Be a Director? Tomahawk Press 2001
- ↑ B-17 44-8846 History
External links
- Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). The Biggest Bundle of Them All at IMDb
- The Biggest Bundle of Them All at AllMovie
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