GRAND SLAM (AD OGNI COSTO)

Italy, 1967, 121 minutes, Colour.
Janet Leigh, Van Heflin, Klaus Kinski.
Directed by Guiliano Montaldo.

Grand Slam is a very enjoyable robbery film made at a time when the genre was very popular. It has an International cast which makes it quite colourful and the episodes, while seemingly far-fetched, have a suspense Intensity and finally an irony which gives the robbery film a fable tone with a moralising viewpoint. Easy entertainment.

1. How enjoyable a thriller In terms of content, style? Critics commented that it was an excellent example of the genre. Why?

2. The appeal of robbery films: the ingenuity of the plans, the daring of the robbery, the enormous amounts stolen, the meticulous execution of the crime, the various types Involved? How well did this film fit the pattern? The ambiguity of the title In terms of result, the machine?

3. How Italian was the film? The international flavour of the various stars?

4. The quality of the robbery, the plan, the intricate details of the double-cross? How interesting a comment on human nature?

5. What values were explored In this robbery film: greed and wealth, honesty and dishonesty, age and achievement and the need for some kind of daring achievement?

6. The importance of the professor: the type of man that he was, his quiet and retiring style, his age, his need for daring, his skill in masterminding the plan, his skill in manipulating people and understanding their weaknesses?

7. The importance of Milford as the contact? His New York empire? His death?

8. The focus on the four men who executed the plot: the different typed, nationalities, strengths and weaknesses? Their professional expertise, the defects in their personalities? The nature of their interaction, their doing the job, their deaths both in killing one another and in accidents? The film's comment on these criminals?

9. How well was the audience deceived in the character of Mary Ann? How well did she carry off her part in the plan? Deceiving the audience and the criminals? The perfect alibi?

10. Audience response to the revelation of the truth? The Impact of the ironic ending and the helplessness of the professor and Mary Ann?

11. Comment on the cinematic detail, especially in the execution of the plot an making for the excellence of the film.