Topaki, is Dassin's remake of Rififi which was the first of the big heist caper films, in which a team of professional criminals plan and execute an elaborate robbery only to have it go wrong due to some unforeseen circumstance.
Rififi was a very influential crime film that looks a little dated today, however films like the Ocean's 11 series and every big caper film ever made were heavily influenced by this film. Dassin himself decided to remake Rififi as Topkapi, with the heist set in Turkey. Dassin also went for a much lighter touch this time, he was smart enough to know that this wasn't to be taken very seriously.
Dassin also decided to cast his wife, Melina Mercouri a very very Greek actress, as the femme fatale, and she brings a very very Medea like intensity to what probably needed somewhat of a lighter touch. I will say however that she definitely has a personality.
The big heist scene at the end of the film is very well done, and the on location photography in Turkey and Greece with the cast running around on the rooftop of the Topkapi palace in Istanbul is pretty cool. This is the kind of film that the Ocean's 11 films couldn't begin to replicate much less surpass, and it's certainly more entertaining than that junk.
119 minutes.
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