Great thriller. I can't believe that was filmed in 1968! That was a wonderful year for the cinema. The rhythm is excellent for a film of that time. The plot and twists shows a marvelous creativity (never seen in another film until 2018: the rob is so ingenious!). The music is so beautiful that became a classic! Unforgettable film to recommend to everyone that love police stories! OK, it's not perfect, some errors, etc., but you'll enjoy it anyway!

After his aging mentor gets killed in a holdup, a youthful criminal protégé named Tony (Gary Lockwood) and his girlfriend Ann (Elke Sommer) plot an armored car heist in the desert southwest of Las Vegas. But things get complicated as Ann works for the armored car owner named Skorsky (Lee J. Cobb) who has ties to the Mafia. And the Feds are trying to nail Skorsky. Still, Tony thinks he can pull it off because, unlike his mentor, Tony has a more modern outlook. When Ann says to Tony: "Nobody can get into a Skorsky truck", Tony replies: " ... it can be done, just a question of information, like where's the key ... see, it's all so simple; information".The plot starts out okay but bogs down in the middle; the film could probably have been shortened by at least twenty minutes. But I have to say that Tony's solution to hiding the armored car is ingenious; and the film is worth watching if for no other reason.This is a European production, and it shows. Dialogue is dubbed; some of the actors are Italian or French. And the score sounds like what one would hear in a Spaghetti Western, cold and haunting. But it's the production design and costumes that render this film locked into a cinematic time capsule.Blonde bimbos wear mini-skirts. Vehicles include Olds Toronados, Pontiac GTOs, Vokswagon bugs, station wagons, and Corvairs. In desert scenes, men use walkie-talkies. And the casting of Elke Sommer adds to the time capsule feel, with her ten-inch long false eyelashes. Computers are big clunky stand-alone machines that use cardboard punch cards and reel-to-reel tapes. And the dialogue doesn't help either; at one point Ann is referred to as a "broad".Acting is borderline acceptable, except for Elke Sommer, whose robotic movements and emotionless expressions make her seem like some kind of futuristic mannequin. Cinematography is dark, and there are lots of close-up and extreme close-up shots. At one point in the second half there's a physical fight. Because of the photography or maybe because of the Direction, I couldn't tell who was doing what to whom. Rear-screen projection in some scenes also dates the production. And there are a lot of scenes shot along the Sunset Strip in Vegas, which may have been stock footage.Undeniably different, especially in the way the armored truck is concealed, this gritty film is worth watching once. But the viewer needs to have high tolerance for dated elements, which make the film time-bound, to the point of unintentional humor at times.

This gets a 4 for some great set decor and Vegas-in-the-60's pastiche. It's filled with cliché Euro-perceptions about American culture and organized crime, suffers from ponderous dramatics, over-posed (and under- talented) character actors, and underdeveloped leads with phantom motivation. Somehow I get the feeling the director dropped a couple of pallets of footage on some half-suspecting, chain-smoking Spanish editor, then got too tied up making a film centered on his new fascination with forklifts to be available to sort out the mess.It's the same thing that happens when a European chef tries to make chili or barbecue sauce. It tastes strangely like beef Bourgignon or Bolognese.

I can remember watching this film when it came out and it has been one of my favourites ever since.The atmosphere is slow but that is the correct pace as the relationship between Tony and Ann is explored as well as her relationship with Skorsky. Also, the tension between the thieves is very real especially as things don't go exactly to plan. Cooper is an idiot but there is always one in every gang and it sometimes doesn`t show up until they are put into a stress related situation.There are two plots going through the film. Firstly we have Skorsky (played superbly by Cobb,) moving money for the Mob and wanting out and secondly we have Tony planning to steal one of Skorsky`s trucks. Tony doesn't realise what he is going to find when he finally gets inside the truck. Also, the treasury department are after Skorsky for his financial dealings and we have them just one step behind him all throughout the film.There are some excellent moments of complete realism, the killing in the casino and the scant regard for life that the gang has as they murder a passer by in the dessert `Just in case'. Tony's instruction to end this unfortunate person's life was simply `Chop him'.I have just managed to obtain a CD of the music to this film by George Garvarentz via Amazon. I wish the video of the film was available, a widescreen version would be very collectable. Especially if people knew that Gary Lockwood`s (Tony,) previous film had been 2001.