How to Steal a Million (1966)

Directed by William Wyler. Starring Audrey Hepburn, Peter O’Toole, Hugh Griffith, Eli Wallach, Charles Boyer, Fernand Gravey.

Breezy but forgettable caper film is mildly funny, mildly romantic, mildly interesting, mildly…mild. Hepburn and O’Toole pair well, she the reserved daughter of a master art forger (Griffith) and he a cunning consultant specializing in spotting fakes (mistaken for a burglar at first), but they are surrounded by mechanical sophistication, unsurprising surprises, and an underdeveloped sub-plot with Wallach that miffs the payoff. Considering that a movie like this is devised around the build-up to the criminal centerpiece, the heist itself is disappointingly routine; most of that sequence is spent with Hepurn and O’Toole stuffed into a closet together, falling deeper in love (but, hey, they pair well, so…). Griffith’s spirited performance breathes some life into the enterprise; Wyler’s fleet direction can’t fully compensate for overlength.

55/100