The girl from the cherry bar
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The girl from the cherry bar |
| Original title | gambit |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1966 |
| length | 109 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ronald Neame |
| script |
Jack Davies , Alvin Sargent , Sidney Carroll (Story) |
| production | Leo L. Fuchs |
| music | Maurice Jarre |
| camera | Clifford Stine |
| cut | Alma Macrorie |
| occupation | |
| |
The Girl from the Cherry Bar (Original Title: Gambit) is an American crime comedy with Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine from 1966, which was directed by Ronald Neame . The film was nominated for an Oscar in three categories in 1967 .
action
The crook Harry Dean and his accomplice Emile, an art forger, develop a plan to steal a priceless bust from the multimillionaire Shabandar. In the Cherry Bar they meet the dancer Nicole, who looks astonishingly like Shabandar's deceased wife. With an offer of $ 5,000 and a British passport, they can persuade Nicole to play Dean's wife for a short time without revealing any details about their plan.
When they arrived in Arabia, they caught the attention of the millionaire, who arranged a meeting with the couple on one of his yachts. Due to the unskillful behavior of Dean, Shabandar quickly becomes suspicious, but appears to take up the game of the two. In view of a folk festival, he grants both of them the wish to visit his protected apartment. There he shows them his valuable art collection, including the aforementioned bust of a Chinese princess, which bears a strong resemblance to Shabandar's deceased wife. He also demonstrates the extensive electronic security measures to his visitors. Ultimately, he invites Nicole to an evening visit downtown, while Dean cancels on the pretext of unfinished business.
After dusk falls, Dean enters Shabandar's property. Nicole leaves at about the same time from eating with Shabandar, but without fleeing to the airport according to the plan. Instead, she reaches Dean, who is about to steal the statue, and warns him of the millionaire's suspicions. Together they manage to overcome the last security measures, but in doing so they trigger the alarm. While Nicole escapes, Dean hides in the apartment and watches as Shabandar's servants check the real bust in a secret safe.
Shortly before reaching the rescue plane to Hong Kong, Nicole is intercepted by Shabandar's thugs and brought back to it. She learns that Dean managed to steal the real sculpture and is instructed to have him return his booty in Hong Kong, otherwise Shabandar would take revenge. In Hong Kong, she actually meets Harry Dean again at the airport, but he takes her to the workshop of his accomplice Emile. There he tells her the true background of his plan.
Instead of actually stealing the sculpture, he hid it in a golden Buddha statue in Shabandar's apartment and later informed him about it. The media response to the alleged theft would make it possible for his accomplice Emile to sell a replica of the bust to anyone interested in art. They would see Shabandar's statement that the real bust was still in his possession as a deception and consider the replica Emiles to be the real statue.
Nicole is horrified by Dean's cold bloodedness and turns away from him. Dean changes his mind, smashes the replica and asks his friend Emile for forgiveness. Dean and Nicole have barely left the studio together happily when the phone rings; the supposedly badly hit art forger offers the interested party "to come over right away", opens a closet and takes one of three other replicas.
Narrative
The film draws its tension not only from the usually central question for the heist movie genre , whether the robbery succeeds or not or where it ultimately fails. To a large extent, it is based on the fact that the viewer's expectations are skilfully undermined several times. The first part of the film is already a complete deception. You think you're witnessing the perfectly purring raid and wonder why the woman is so persistently silent (in fact, Shirley MacLaine does not speak a word for half an hour) until it turns out that what you saw was Harry's idea of the planned coup was. The reality then looks a little different. Even the three main actors are quite different from what Harry thought. While he himself shrinks to a very human level, Nicole and Shabandar are transformed and superior to him in almost everything - be it intelligence, education or knowledge of human nature. However, precisely because of this, as desired, both actually come closer - another unexpected turn. And by no means the last, be it with regard to Harry, who in the end grows human again, or due to the extraordinary final constellation that makes everyone a winner, except only those who will be rightly affected as would-be profiteers of the supposed robbery.
background
The term gambit is borrowed from chess and describes the sacrifice of an easy piece for a positional advantage in the opening of the game. The character for the “Gambit” in the film is Nicole, who, because of her resemblance to Shabandar's late wife, serves as the ticket to the millionaire's apartment.
In 2012 Michael Hoffman shot a remake of the material under the title Gambit - The Master Plan . In the main roles are u. a. Cameron Diaz and Alan Rickman , written by Ethan and Joel Coen .
Awards
In 1967 the film was nominated for an Oscar in the categories “Best Set Design / Color”, “Best Costume Design / Color” and “Best Sound” .
The Wiesbaden film evaluation agency awarded the production the rating of particularly valuable .
Reviews
"[...] lively crook comedy with witty wit. Rating: 2½ stars, above average "
"Entertaining, sophisticatedly played thief comedy in an exotic setting."
"Entertaining entertainment peppered with all sorts of gags and good acting."
Web links
- The girl from the Cherry Bar in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Gambit - The girl from the cherry bar at posterdb.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for the girl from the cherry bar . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2013 (PDF; test number: 36 250 V).
- ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz: Lexicon Films on TV (expanded new edition), Publisher: Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, p. 524, ISBN 3-89136-392-3
- ↑ The girl from the Cherry Bar. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Evangelical Press Association, Munich, Review No. 487/1966