Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The crime caper was a very popular genre back in the 1950s and 60s and a ton of these films were made. There were some wonderful examples, such as "Rififi", "Bob le Flambeur", "The Killing" and "Grand Slam", and some weaker ones and "Seven Thieves" is, at times, a poor one--and could have been so much better. Sure, it's got all the needed things for a caper film--an exotic location on the French Riviera, a complicated and interesting plan and some decent acting (at least in some cases). However, it fails because of one major problem--the dialog was, at times, simply dreadful and full of clichés. Now this did not occur to a the characters but was a severe handicap with the movie's lone lady, Joan Collins. While I am sure she could act, here she isn't given a lot and her character is stupid. She plays a stripper. Yet, she plays a 'stripper with a heart of gold'--a giant cliché if I've ever seen one. What bothered me much more was during her angry exchange with 'method burglar' (Rod Steiger)--it made no sense and having her being caught in many outright lies and his reaction just made no sense at all--nor did her faux petulance. You see, in this dumb scene, despite agreeing to take part in a HUGE robbery, she insists that she's a nice girl from a nice family! What the heck!? Was the writer on pot?! You really have to see it--it's REALLY bad...so bad that I felt sorry for Collins, because she is more a pretty piece of furniture than a person in much of the film. None of the men were given such silly and weak characters to play. As I also said, Steiger plays a method actor playing a method burglar--and he came off a bit silly just because this scene with Collins completely undid this characterization--when all his believability and consistency as a character went out the window. Too bad...otherwise, it was a pretty decent film.

THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER director Henry Hathaway made just about every kind of movie during his long career that spanned from the 1932 western WHEN THE WEST WAS YOUNG to the 1974 blaxploitation thriller SUPER DUDE. This above-average 1960 casino crime caper came out several months before the Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin epic OCEANS ELEVEN. The Hathaway takes place in France instead of Las Vegas and concerns an elderly ex-con, Professor Theo Wilkins (Edward G. Robinson of LITTLE CAESAR), who wants to make the world gasp for one last time. He has orchestrated a highly complex robbery at a Monte Carlo casino that will net some 4 million dollars in French money. He entices an old and dear friend, Paul Mason (Rod Steiger of DUCK YOU SUCKER), as the man who ramrods the operation. Paul straightens out everybody on the crew that he has the final word in everything. He also checks them out and tests them so he can be sure that they are reliable in a tight spot. One of the conspirators is a gorgeous stripper, Melanie (Joan Collins of LAND OF THE PHARAOHS), who strings along a timid, uptight casino secretary Raymond Le May (Alexander Scourby of THE BIG HEAT) to help them obtain invitations to an exclusive party the same night they plan to pull the robbery. They also enlist the aid of a safer cracker, Louis Antonizzi (Michael Dante of RAINTREE COUNTY), and Poncho (Eli Wallach of BABY DOLL) who is supposed to impersonate a wealthy baron. The night of the heist, Poncho fakes a heart attack so they can have an ambulance arrive. The ambulance is being driven by another conspirator Hugo Baumer (Berry Kroeger of Hitler) who handles the automobiles that they use for the robbery. Remember, back in 1960 when this movie was produced, the Production Code Administration still had enough clout to censor movies and they were not about to let these talented thieves get away with their crime. The way that Hathaway and scenarist Sydney Boehm work things out is not entirely satisfactory but it does make for a better ending that all of them being nabbed by French authorities.

It seems like only yesterday that the gang and myself went to see this SEVEN THIEVES picture. It was playing at our local movie show,The Ogden Theatre at 63rd & Marshfield, here in Chicago. It was a Double Feature with THE PURPLE GANG, a production from Allied Artists (formerly known as Monogram Pictures, a long time resident of Hollywood's Poverty Row.The advertising stated that it starred "........Edward G.Robinson(Little Ceasar) and Rod Steiger(Al Capone)." Gangster films were enjoying a renewed popularity at that time. AL CAPONE was released the prior year and did okay at the Box Office. Desilu Playhouse had aired the two part "THE UNTOUCHABLES", which led to the weekly series.Well, my 13 year old mind thought that we were seeing something that would be like 'Little Ceasar Meets Al Capone!" We all left the show giving the 'thumbs up' to THE PURPLE GANG, but not really caring for SEVEN THIEVES. Small wonder, when a bunch of kids see a picture like this that will have a lot of material that was really "TWA"(over our heads).Well, only a few months ago this former guttersnipe saw SEVEN THIEVES again. This time I understood it, I think.Billed as "The Robbery That Rocked Monte Carlo!" It is a caper film, and a very good one at that. It has a fine cast, in addition to Mr. Robinson and Mr. Steiger, Joan Collins, Elli Wallach, Sebastian Cabot, Alexander Scourby, et al.Anyone would enjoy this film. It's well worth seeing, and our old gang would heartily agree.

Remember "Mission: Impossible"? The TV series, not the movie. It was always fun to watch the team pull off one of their stunts, because they balanced their Rube Goldberg concepts with NASA-quality planning. This movie is cut from the same cloth. It's about a casino robbery engineered during one of the gambling hall's biggest celebrations. The eponymous crooks must work in synchronized unison to fulfill their plan. Unlike the MI series, though, they aren't all quite equally devoted to their mission or, at least not to their particular roles within it. Still, they have a clever series of steps that get more interesting to watch, even as it seems increasingly likely that the plan will succeed.Along the way, there are some interesting mixtures of personality types, some mysterious backgrounds waiting to be uncovered, and a degree of slipperiness that make it hard to be sure just who we should be rooting for. Indeed, part of the charm of this film is that there are _no_ "good guys," yet we want the thieves to get away with their crime.A nifty, thoughtful piece, with little action and no sfx (in the current sense, anyway). An added plus for some of us is a pair of fairly sexy dance numbers a 27-year-old Joan Collins does "nearly naked," as her character puts it. She was at her physical prime in this film, but don't underestimate her acting ability. She carries the sole female role with every bit as much mastery as Wallach, Steiger, and the oddly endearing Edward G. Robinson carry theirs. John Beradino (the original "Dr. Hardy" of TV's "General Hospital") has a small role, and Marcel Hillaire appears as more or less the same character he would play dozens of times in TV guest spots for the next few years.7/10, recommended if you've had your fill of explosions, CGI, or Tom Cruise.