Topkapi

1964

Action / Adventure / Comedy / Crime / Thriller

19
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 68% · 21 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 68% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.9/10 10 11510 11.5K

based on novel or book smuggling (contraband) greece museum caper theft

Plot summary

Arthur Simon Simpson is a small-time crook biding his time in Greece. One of his potential victims turns out to be a gentleman thief planning to steal the emerald-encrusted dagger of the Mehmed II from Istanbul's Topkapi Museum.

Director

Jules Dassin Photo
Jules Dassin

Top cast

Maximilian Schell Photo
Maximilian Schell as Walter Harper
Melina Mercouri Photo
Melina Mercouri as Elizabeth Lipp
Peter Ustinov Photo
Peter Ustinov as Arthur Simon Simpson
Robert Morley Photo
Robert Morley as Cedric Page
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
870.14 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 0 min
Seeds 3
1.9 GB
1776*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 0 min
Seeds 15

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Steve-318 8 / 10

Hard-to-beat in the big caper category. A fun film.

Before "Mission Impossible" made every big heist a challenge for technology, there were movie efforts like "Topkapi" which played the human element in the big scam.A wonderful and truly international cast is assembled here for this 60's effort that showcases Istanbul. Melina Mercouri is marvelous, blending humor and sensuality with her hard side. Maximillian Schell is excellent as the leading man with all the answers while Peter Ustinov is the classic bumbler. Akim Tamiroff adds additional levity as the irascible cook.Not sure I was totally satisfied with the outcome but it's such a rollicking and colorful ride, give director Jules Dassin top marks anyway.
Reviewed by BobHudson74 7 / 10

Classic Jewel Heist à la Jean Reno set in Istanbul

With beautiful camerawork in Istanbul and Greece and an equally intriguing plot, Jules Dassin brings to the screen a film worthy to be considered alongside his masterpieces "Du rififi chez les hommes" and "Naked City". Peter Ustinov follows up his Oscar-winning performance in "Spartacus" with a second award for best supporting actor, while playing a "schmo"--a lowly, disgraceful, British rogue living in Greece as the self-proclaimed "un-crowned king of the nightlife": Arthur Simon Simpson. Getting involved in much more than he bargained for, Simpson enters a ring of double-crosses as an informer for Turkish Intelligence while still hoping to line his pockets with filthy lucre.The show, however, is stolen by the seductive, raspy-voiced Elizabeth Lipp, played by Greek beauty Melina Mercouri (who was also in the starring role of Dassin's "Phaedra" two years earlier--as well as "Pote tin Kyriaki" (1960), "La Legge" (1958), and "Celui qui doit mourir" (1957)--and whom the director would marry two years later). The curvy enchantress draws in Walter Harper (Maximilian Schell) and Cedric Page (Robert Morley I), offering them their cut on the biggest heist ever--the theft of the sultan's jewel-encrusted dagger from the Istanbul Museum.However, there is a problem. The museum is impenetrable, equipped with a state-of-the-art alarm system that requires a strong man to hoist an acrobat from above the museum and slowly lower him into the treasure trove while avoiding security (à la "Mission Impossible" and "Oceans Eleven"). An unattended, even ironic, ending makes this film a classic in the genre as the dénouement keeps the viewer attached to the screen all the way up to the credits.Not quite the masterpiece of a "Bob le Flambeur" or "Rififi", this film is in the top ten of its genre and is crucial in its intrigue and influence on future heist ("casse") films. Highly enjoyable, with the right balance of humor, suspense and allure (thanks to Melina Mercouri) to establish it as a touchstone in the genre, Dassin's caper is a cinema classic.
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