How to Steal a Million

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How to Steal a Million
film poster by Robert McGinnis
Directed by	William Wyler
Produced by	William Wyler Fred Kohlmar
Written by	George Bradshaw (story) Harry Kurnitz
Starring	Audrey Hepburn Peter O'Toole Eli Wallach Hugh Griffith Charles Boyer
Music by	Johnny Williams
Cinematography	Charles Lang
Editing by	Robert Swink
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	July 13, 1966
Running time	123 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$6,000,000 (estimated)

How to Steal a Million is a 1966 heist comedy film, directed by William Wyler and starring Peter O'Toole, Audrey Hepburn, and Hugh Griffith. It is set and filmed in France, though the characters speak entirely in English. Audrey Hepburn's clothes were designed by Givenchy.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Cast 3 Plot 4 Popular culture 5 External links

[edit] Synopsis

O'Toole appears as Simon Dermott, caught by Audrey Hepburn sneaking through her house clutching a forged painting. Hepburn plays Nicole Bonnet, the daughter of genius art fraud Charles Bonnet (Griffith). The central theme of the movie is the recovery from a Parisian museum of a fake Cellini committed by Bonnet's grandfather, before its discovery and exposure as such, and is enlivened by the romantic angle between the characters played by O'Toole and Hepburn.

[edit] Cast

• Audrey Hepburn - Nicole Bonnet
• Peter O'Toole - Simon Dermott
• Hugh Griffith - Charles Bonnet
• Eli Wallach - Davis Leland
• Charles Boyer - DeSolnay
• Fernand Gravey - Grammont
• Marcel Dalio - Paravideo

[edit] Plot

Charles Bonnet is a professional art forger, and has just loaned a forged Cellini sculpture to a museum. One night, his daughter Nicole finds Dermott carrying one of the many paintings in their house (which happens to be forged). He says he is a high society burglar, and she accidentally shoots him in the arm with a pistol so old it does almost no harm. Knowing that if she reports him there will be an investigation and the family's secret destroyed, she offers to drive the man home.

Later, she and her father learn that his sculpture is going to have a mandatory authenticity test, which leaves them both devastated. In order to save her father, Nicole enlists Dermott's help to steal the sculpture. He accepts after some hesitation. They spend the evening in a storage closet in the museum, during which Dermott discloses that he knew about the Cellini forgery and explains his motivation for concealing his knowledge, conveying with a kiss; he and Nicole express their love for each other. Dermott twice uses a boomerang to set off the high-tech "electric eye" alarm, thus confusing the guards into thinking it is defective. After the second time, the guards deactivate the alarm. The two take the sculpture (replacing it with a brandy bottle for the guards to notice) and walk out amidst all the confusion about the disappearance.

With the family saved, Dermott reveals he is actually a private detective who specializes in art fraud and will not take her father in, provided he forsakes his art forgery. Nicole and the "thief" follow through with their love and get married.

[edit] Popular culture

A verbal exchange between Nicole and her father early in the film ("Nicole!" "Papa!") was used in a successful series of commercials for the Renault Clio.

[edit] External links

• How to Steal a Million at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Films directed by William Wyler 1920s The Crook Buster (1925) • The Gunless Bad Man (1926) • Ridin' for Love (1926) • The Fire Barrier (1926) • Don't Shoot (1926) • The Pinnacle Rider (1926) • Martin of the Mounted (1926) • Lazy Lightning (1926) • The Stolen Ranch (1926) • The Two Fister (1927) • Kelcy Gets His Man (1927) • Tenderfoot Courage (1927) • The Silent Partner (1927) • Blazing Days (1927) • Shooting Straight (1927) • Galloping Justice (1927) • The Haunted Homestead (1927) • Hard Fists (1927) • The Lone Star (1927) • The Home Trail (1927) • Gun Justice (1927) • The Phantom Outlaw (1927) • The Square Shooter (1927) • The Horse Trader (1927) • Daze of the West (1927) • The Border Cavalier (1927) • Desert Dust (1927) • Thunder Riders (1928) • Anybody Here Seen Kelly? (1928) • The Shakedown (1929) • The Love Trap (1929) 1930s Hell's Heroes (1930) • The Storm (1930) • A House Divided (1931) • Tom Brown of Culver (1932) • Her First Mate (1933) • Counsellor at Law (1933) • Glamour (1934) • The Good Fairy (1935) • The Gay Deception (1935) • Barbary Coast (1935) • These Three (1936) • Dodsworth (1936) • Come and Get It (1936) • Dead End (1937) • Jezebel (1938) • Wuthering Heights (1939) 1940s The Westerner (1940) • The Letter (1940) • The Little Foxes (1941) • Mrs. Miniver (1942) • Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944) • The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) • Thunderbolt (1947) • The Heiress (1949) 1950s Detective Story (1951) • Carrie (1952) • Roman Holiday (1953) • The Desperate Hours (1955) • Friendly Persuasion (1956) • The Big Country (1958) • Ben-Hur (1959) 1960s The Children's Hour (1961) • The Collector (1965) • How to Steal a Million (1966) • Funny Girl (1968) 1970s The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)

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