If this had been released before "The Graduate", it wouldn't have mattered, because it's such a poorly developed film that advertising it alone would have turned people away, and it would have been quickly forgotten when the masterpiece that got Dustin Hoffman an Oscar nomination came out. This is odd as a 1968 film, seeing Hoffman getting an "and introducing" credit. It would be like seeing Judy Garland's name given that credit for "The Wizard of Oz" even though she had been around for a few years. But that's a classic, and this is a trashy European caper film, dull and pointless, only worth it to see the location footage and Hoffman before Mike Nichols got ahold of him.
The problem is that this film doesn't seem to know what it wants to be, whether it's supposed to be a farce or an action picture or a serious drama. This split personality just makes it a convoluted mess, wasting top billed Cesar Romero and giving the attractive Elsa Martinelli a dull character to play. The only comedy comes from Hoffman because his nebbish character (reminiscent of Gene Wilder in "The Producers") just seems to find disaster wherever he goes, his bad luck turning good only because the script maneuvers it that way. Garish like most weakly written 60's international action films, this isn't a great representation of a huge star to be.
The problem is that this film doesn't seem to know what it wants to be, whether it's supposed to be a farce or an action picture or a serious drama. This split personality just makes it a convoluted mess, wasting top billed Cesar Romero and giving the attractive Elsa Martinelli a dull character to play. The only comedy comes from Hoffman because his nebbish character (reminiscent of Gene Wilder in "The Producers") just seems to find disaster wherever he goes, his bad luck turning good only because the script maneuvers it that way. Garish like most weakly written 60's international action films, this isn't a great representation of a huge star to be.