A hot air balloon with 'Happy Anniversary' is launched into the night sky from the grounds of a magnificent English mansion. A beautiful woman kisses an elderly man and announces her joy at their first wedding anniversary. Among the guests is Jack Rhodes (Burt Reynolds). He spots a strikingly attractive woman, Gillian Bromley (Lesley-Anne Down), and tries to pick her up with a Cary Grant impression. She is not impressed. However, his persistence leads to a lunch date the following Friday. It so happens that Gillian was sent to the party by Chief Inspector Cyril Willis (David Niven) of Scotland Yard. Rhodes is a diamond thief who has never been caught and Willis has only a short time to catch him before his mandatory retirement ends his career. Through Gillian, Willis provides details to a diamond shipment that is sure to lure Rhodes into a prison cell.
This is less of a heist film and more of a romantic comedy with a heist as the setting. The chemistry between Reynolds and Down is terrific. The heist is background noise while they flirt and banter, Reynolds with his natural charm and Down with a smile that lights up the room. The heist is clever, but beside the point. Inspector Willis was not really a likeable character, and the big twist comes too late to change that. It was strange to see Sergeant Apone (Al Matthews) of Aliens (1986) as a musician in a Paris disco. The gold digger wife from the opening is played by Cassandra Harris, future Bond girl (For Your Eyes Only) and wife of future James Bond, Pierce Brosnan.
This was the first Burt Reynolds film I saw in theaters, and I thought it was awesome. Of course, I was thirteen. I had always thought it was a big hit back then, but it barely earned back the production costs. Even so, it's great popcorn fun.
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