Topkapi (1964)
Melina Mercouri stars as Elizabeth Lipp, an uninhibited fetishist who’s found a way to smuggle a priceless gem-encrusted dagger out of Istanbul, if only ex-lover Maximilion Schell can help her steal it from the Topkapi palace museum. With Swiss efficiency Schell decides the heist is so daring it will bring Interpol down on all known criminals. His solution: assemble a hodge-podge team of amateurs who’ve never been caught, and in a feat of misdirection pin the crime on a pathetic con-man Arthur Simpson, played by Peter Ustinov in an Oscar winning role. This “schmo” is hired to drive a car stocked with weapons (for the deception) across the border, but because of passport problems the car is searched and the weapons found. Suspecting he is an unwitting mule for terrorists the police force Simpson to become a double agent, and report the thieves’ conversations and whereabouts.
But that’s not their only problem. In a plot device stolen by almost every heist movie since, Topkapi uses an alarm system triggered by a pressure sensitive floor. Schell’s plan requires a lythe acrobat to dangle upside-down by harness and snatch the dagger from its case while being counter-balanced by his older heavier partner, played with delicious homoerotic subtext. But when Hans injures his hands in a jealous rage, Simpson is recruited to replace the strongman. The thieves bring the schmo into their confidence and bolster his broken ego, meanwhile stealing the dagger under the now watchful eye of the Turkish police.
At 45 and never a Hollywood beauty, it may seem odd casting that a mature woman would be playing the role normally left to a “girlfriend”. But Lipp is no ordinary strumpet. An unashamed criminal, self-confessed nympho, an opportunist who reunites with her jilted lover to steal four perfect emeralds…. She is not there to service the men, and is obviously displeased with gadgetguy Cedric Page, but when she turns to Arthur Simpson for help she doesn’t plead with him, she dares him to find the man within himself. It’s a woman’s challenge, not a girl’s: “Be a man!” But she’s not a ball-busting bitch. At one point she presses up against a display case like a warm fire, and lighting up with desire as Schell describes their perfect crime. Elizabeth Lipp is her own woman, and you can see why a group of amateur scoundrels might try just a little harder to impress her.
Melina Mercouri found international fame in the quirky Never on Sunday, playing an unrepentant prostitute who refuses to give up her independance, directed by and starring the man who would later become her husband Jules Dassin. Dassin basically invented the heist picture nine years earlier with the tense crime drama Rififi, only to turn the genre on its head with Topkapi. Every gem sparkles, every moment is filled with color and charm, and the opening credits are like dropping acid in New York City’s diamond district. It’s Dassin’s loveletter, a beautiful unique piece of jewelry for his wife.
