How to Steal a Million (1966)

There are heist movies with romantic interests, but this is a proper heist movie as romantic comedy. The way the heist is executed is also rare. Maybe more recent films have borrowed from this one (The Thomas Crown Affair remake?)

What makes this film stand out is charm. Obviously Audrey Hepburn is charming as always. So is Peter O’Toole. But beyond the two leading stars, the whole movie feels charming. The director has sprinkled charm dust all over it.

It has corny moments, but knowingly. Sometimes audiences today get the idea people then were not as aware, but when you watch more old films you realise everyone is in on the joke. If there’s any doubt, interviews with actors, directors, and writers reveal that corny or silly things were done very intentionally.

Nice attention to detail often skipped in other movies and a Hitchcock cameo. Audrey Hepburn is reading a French book about Alfred Hitchcock’s suspense cinema when she here’s a noise downstairs and suspects a burglar.