Financial wizard "Doc" Fletcher is sent by crime boss Joe Fiore to buy a bank in Switzerland in order to more easily launder their profits. When he arrives, Fletcher finds that the bank, acquired by his associate Prince di Siracusa, consists of some shabby offices above a restaurant. To make up for this, the Prince suggests that Fletcher invests in a silver mine owned by Shireen and Agha Firdausi. This solves one problem, but the mine also attracts the attention of some of the most powerful people in the silver business. Fletcher must pull out all his wheeler-dealing skills in order to keep hold of everything he's worked for, in the process romancing a banker's discontented wife.
Acting
Caine's smirk could sell you a bridge—here he sells a fake silver mine.
Cinematography
Switzerland never looked so suspiciously cheap and weirdly seductive.
Director
Ivan Passer
Michael Caine
Doc Fletcher
Cybill Shepherd
Debbie Luckman
Louis Jourdan
Prince di Siracusa
Stéphane Audran
Shireen Firdausi
David Warner
Agha Firdausi
Tom Smothers
Donald Luckman
Martin Balsam
Joe Fiore
Jay Leno
Albert Fiore
Tony Mascia
Marvin Skinner
Charles Gray
Charles Cook
Joss Ackland
Henry Foreman
Jeremy Clyde
Nick Topping
Moustache
Signore Bendetti
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Tom Smothers plays against his wholesome TV persona as the cuckolded banker husband.
This was Ivan Passer's first Hollywood film after Czech New Wave success; the cynical European sensibility clashes deliciously with American crime-comedy expectations.
US
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