55 years of How to Steal a Million
On July 13, 1966, the premiere of William Wyler's crime comedy "How to Steal a Million" took place in Los Angeles.
The film appeared in the Soviet box office 9 years later - in January 1975. Once again, one can recall the joke of Soviet witches that Audrey Hepburn should be grateful to the Soviet distributors for introducing her to the Soviet cinema audience as she was nine years earlier. But in any case, without any jokes, the filmmakers should be grateful to the Soviet film distribution for the fact that the film was released on screens in a large circulation - 1,185 copies. In many ways, this circulation determined that in the USSR the film "How to Steal a Million" was watched by nearly 25 million viewers, more than in any other country.
In fact, in its home country, in the United States, the film was received very sourly. It is noted that the film practically failed at the American box office, not recouping the costs of its production. Accordingly, the film was not nominated for any festivals.
Regarding the film's failure in the American box office, Russian film critic Yevgeny Nefyodov noted in his review: “I really can't believe that in the USA the film not only did not make it to the top of the season, but in fact was classified as a commercial failure. The box office in North America did not even compensate for the production costs, which resulted in a tidy sum of $ 6 million! This, I suspect, is quite shocking to a fair number of domestic viewers, who greeted the film with great enthusiasm in the Soviet box office and did not seem to miss a single television show. And besides, it can serve as a kind of reproach to the overseas audience, which did not properly appreciate the undoubted potential of the tape - and not only entertainment, but also aesthetic. "
The script for the film is based on a story by Robert Bradshaw from the 1962 short story collection The Practice of Deception. The story was called Venus Rising, and that was the original working title of the film.
Initially, William Wyler intended to repeat the success of "Roman Holiday" and invited Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck to the main roles, but Peck by that time became addicted to roles in thrillers, action films, etc., and the role in comedy, even criminal, did not attract him ... Wyler had to "be content" with Peter O'Toole.
The verb "content" was used in this case not as an assessment of O'Toole's acting qualities, but due to the fact that his addiction to alcohol by that time had become common knowledge. However, not only Peter O'Toole was distinguished by such a "hobby" as part of the film crew. At the very beginning of filming, actor George Scott was fired for showing up on set with a deep hangover at the end of the working day. He was replaced by Eli Wallach.
And another actor, Hugh Griffith, who played the main character's father, was fired for walking naked through the corridors of the George V hotel, where the film crew was located, and changing the Do Not Disturb signs for signs of the opposite content. True, this dismissal took place at the end of the filming process, and no replacements were required.
As for the assessment of the film by professional film critics, according to Kimberly Lindbergs, "it was met with mixed reviews. In some ways the frivolous nature and glorified glamour of Wyler's film seemed completely out of touch with the times. But it also offered audiences a welcome escape from the Vietnam War, civil unrest and the cultural upheaval that the world was facing."
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times described the film as follows: «Absolute, unabashed deception, not only as a plot element but as a method of wooing the audience into charmed and uncontentious belief, is beautifully and cheerfully practiced in this wholly ingratiating film that should leave everyone who sees it feeling kindlier about deceit."
And Pauline Kael noted that the film was attended "An expensive cast in an anemic suspense comedy-romance" finishing with "The picture isn't offensive, and it's handsome enough, but it's just blah."
Modern moviegoers around the world rated William Wyler's "How to Steal a Million" much higher than American viewers and film critics more than half a century ago. 71% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave this movie ratings from 8 to 10, and 23% of users of the mentioned sites gave the movie the highest rating. It should be noted that the greatest contribution to the formation of the high rating of this film was made by the users of Kinopoisk. And there is nothing to be surprised at: after all, the very name of the film so caresses the ear of a Russian person :-)
With that said, FilmGourmand rated William Wyler's "How to Steal a Million" at 8.115, placing it 568th in the Golden Thousand.
