They Came To Rob Las Vegas (1969)
R | 124 mins | Melodrama | 5 February 1969
Cast:
Gary Lockwood, Elke Sommer, Lee J. Cobb [ More ]Director:
Antonio Isasi IsasmendiCinematographer:
Juan GelpíEditors:
Elena Jaumandreu, Emilio Rodriguez OsesProduction Designers:
Antonio Cortés, Juan Alberto SolerProduction Companies:
Isasi Producciones Cinematograficas, Capitole Films, Eichberg-FilmA 26 Oct 1967 LAT item announced that American actors Gary Lockwood, Jack Palance, and Lee J. Cobb had recently filmed They Came to Rob Las Vegas in Madrid, Spain. According to the 8 May 1968 and 11 Sep 1968 issues of Var, the project marked a co-production between Spain, France, Italy, West Germany, Argentina, and the U.S. A significant portion of principal photography took place in the deserts of Almería, Spain, which stood in for the American southwest. Location shooting was done in Las Vegas, NV, San Francisco, CA, and Los Angeles, CA, where one sequence was shot at the Angels Flight funicular railway in the Bunker Hill area of downtown.
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. briefly changed the title to Our Man from Las Vegas, as noted in the 22 Mar 1968 DV. Five days later, however, a 27 Mar 1968 DV brief announced the title had reverted back to They Came to Rob Las Vegas. Previously, the 8 Nov 1967 Var had referred to it as Las Vegas 500 Million, and noted that filming had not yet been completed. Months later, the 13 Mar 1968 Var claimed that director Antonio Isasi Isasmendi was currently overseeing the editing. According to the 15 Jan 1969 Var review, the picture took “seemingly endless months of shooting, editing and looping” to complete.
A tentative New York City release date was scheduled for 30 Oct 1968, as reported in the 11 Sep 1968 Var. However, the film did not open in New York until 5 Feb 1969. In ...
A 26 Oct 1967 LAT item announced that American actors Gary Lockwood, Jack Palance, and Lee J. Cobb had recently filmed They Came to Rob Las Vegas in Madrid, Spain. According to the 8 May 1968 and 11 Sep 1968 issues of Var, the project marked a co-production between Spain, France, Italy, West Germany, Argentina, and the U.S. A significant portion of principal photography took place in the deserts of Almería, Spain, which stood in for the American southwest. Location shooting was done in Las Vegas, NV, San Francisco, CA, and Los Angeles, CA, where one sequence was shot at the Angels Flight funicular railway in the Bunker Hill area of downtown.
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. briefly changed the title to Our Man from Las Vegas, as noted in the 22 Mar 1968 DV. Five days later, however, a 27 Mar 1968 DV brief announced the title had reverted back to They Came to Rob Las Vegas. Previously, the 8 Nov 1967 Var had referred to it as Las Vegas 500 Million, and noted that filming had not yet been completed. Months later, the 13 Mar 1968 Var claimed that director Antonio Isasi Isasmendi was currently overseeing the editing. According to the 15 Jan 1969 Var review, the picture took “seemingly endless months of shooting, editing and looping” to complete.
A tentative New York City release date was scheduled for 30 Oct 1968, as reported in the 11 Sep 1968 Var. However, the film did not open in New York until 5 Feb 1969. In the meantime, a 124-minute version debuted under the title Las Vegas 500 Milliones in Oct 1968 in Madrid. European releases followed in Jan 1969 in Paris, where a 120-minute version played as Les hommes de Las Végas; in Mar 1969 in West Germany, where a 130-minute version was titled An einem Freitag in Las Vegas; and in Italy, where the film was released as Radiografia d'un colpo d'oro. Despite receiving generally negative reviews in the U.S., it went on to become “successful on an international scale,” the 8 Sep 1976 Var reported.
Las Vegas 500 Million
Las Vegas, 500 millones
Les hommes de Las Végas
Our Man from Las Vegas
Radiografia d'un colpo d'oro
When his older brother is killed in San Francisco while trying to rob an armored truck owned by Skorsky, Las Vegas casino dealer Tony Vincenzo vows to honor his brother's memory by successfully executing the robbery. He seduces Anne, Skorsky's secretary and mistress, and learns from her the details of a shipment coming by van from the Las Vegas casino to a California bank. Tony and his gang waylay the truck in the Nevada desert, dispose of all but one guard, and attempt to cut through the van's steel plating with blowtorches. Unknown to Tony, Skorsky has been using his company as a cover for smuggling gold ingots into Mexico for the Mafia, and the operation has aroused the suspicion of Douglas, a federal treasury agent. Meanwhile, Tony's men begin fighting among themselves; and during the mayhem, the guard inside the van, who is actually a government agent, wounds Tony and locks him in the van before dying. Tony manages to open the truck by short-circuiting the electrical lock; he then telephones Anne to meet him. She arrives, followed by Douglas's team of treasury agents, as well as Skorsky and several Mafia members. At the same time, some of Tony's men return with explosives and set off a blast which kills them and scatters the contents of the truck across the desert. As the police move in to arrest the remaining conspirators, Tony breaks into laughter, satisfied that he has avenged his brother's ...
When his older brother is killed in San Francisco while trying to rob an armored truck owned by Skorsky, Las Vegas casino dealer Tony Vincenzo vows to honor his brother's memory by successfully executing the robbery. He seduces Anne, Skorsky's secretary and mistress, and learns from her the details of a shipment coming by van from the Las Vegas casino to a California bank. Tony and his gang waylay the truck in the Nevada desert, dispose of all but one guard, and attempt to cut through the van's steel plating with blowtorches. Unknown to Tony, Skorsky has been using his company as a cover for smuggling gold ingots into Mexico for the Mafia, and the operation has aroused the suspicion of Douglas, a federal treasury agent. Meanwhile, Tony's men begin fighting among themselves; and during the mayhem, the guard inside the van, who is actually a government agent, wounds Tony and locks him in the van before dying. Tony manages to open the truck by short-circuiting the electrical lock; he then telephones Anne to meet him. She arrives, followed by Douglas's team of treasury agents, as well as Skorsky and several Mafia members. At the same time, some of Tony's men return with explosives and set off a blast which kills them and scatters the contents of the truck across the desert. As the police move in to arrest the remaining conspirators, Tony breaks into laughter, satisfied that he has avenged his brother's death.
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