This is one of those movies that, even though it's entertaining, I have to assume the main reason it was made was simply the availability of these particular stars in this particular place. Like the original "Ocean's Eleven" which was basically made because Sinatra and the "rat pack" were available in Las Vegas on particular dates, this film feels basically like an extended Italian vacation for Peter Sellers, his then-wife Britt Ekland, and graying American movie star Victor Mature (who essentially makes fun of himself in the film). There's very little of consequence in the film, and it's all very predictable plot-wise, but Sellers manages to salvage more than one scene with his zany improvisations on Neil Simon's funny story.
Sellers plays an Italian criminal mastermind who frees himself from prison and sets about importing stolen Egyptian gold by impersonating a new-wave movie director. "If only I could steal enough money to become an honest man," he laments as he frets about his movie-obsessed sister, played by Ekland.
There are just a handful of really memorable scenes here that basically make the movie, and all but one (with Ekland unknowingly smearing Mature's hair dye all over her face) primarily involve Sellers. First Sellers bursts into Mature's hotel suite in the gregarious manner of an Italian film magnate, kissing Mature on both cheeks like old friends and thoroughly annoying the agent played by Martin Balsam. In another, Sellers convinces the local constable Lando Buzzanca to let them operate without a permit, and ends up with the guy eating out of his hand ("good morning!") while he tears his office apart.
At times when Sellers is playing the director, you get a strong feeling that he's off the script and he's purposely skewering particular directors. It's all a bit weird, because the contrived film Sellers is making inside the film doesn't feel all that much more arbitrary or manufactured than the one we're actually watching.
Sellers plays an Italian criminal mastermind who frees himself from prison and sets about importing stolen Egyptian gold by impersonating a new-wave movie director. "If only I could steal enough money to become an honest man," he laments as he frets about his movie-obsessed sister, played by Ekland.
There are just a handful of really memorable scenes here that basically make the movie, and all but one (with Ekland unknowingly smearing Mature's hair dye all over her face) primarily involve Sellers. First Sellers bursts into Mature's hotel suite in the gregarious manner of an Italian film magnate, kissing Mature on both cheeks like old friends and thoroughly annoying the agent played by Martin Balsam. In another, Sellers convinces the local constable Lando Buzzanca to let them operate without a permit, and ends up with the guy eating out of his hand ("good morning!") while he tears his office apart.
At times when Sellers is playing the director, you get a strong feeling that he's off the script and he's purposely skewering particular directors. It's all a bit weird, because the contrived film Sellers is making inside the film doesn't feel all that much more arbitrary or manufactured than the one we're actually watching.