I didn't think this one sounded all that great, what with it being a Euro-crime film with a PG rating, but I was wrong. The Master Touch might not be as deliriously violent as, well, Violent Naples or Contraband, but it's got a certain charm to it thanks to the actors involved. Florinda Balken! Guilliano Gemma! Romano Puppo! And some unknown called Kirk Douglas, who manages to acquit himself nicely amongst those greats.
Kirk is indeed a master safe breaker, just out of the jail after a three year stretch, and immediately offered another job by a mobster called Miller. Kirk's a bit torn about it (for about ten seconds) as his wife, Florinda, doesn't really want to be waiting for him to get out of jail a second time. Kirk starts preparing for a new heist in a seemingly impenetrable vault while giving Florinda the old 'I'm not up to nothing' whilst bringing under his wing trapeze artist (!) Guilliano Gemma. Gemma's got his own problems, having had a run in and a fairly mental punch up with one of Miller's goons, the late Romano Puppo, who chases Gemma all around Hamburg, out for a rematch.
Kirk teaches Guillano the ropes while Florinda flounces around in a huff, and before they're all ready to go the film takes a left turn into one of the loopiest car chases I've ever witnessed. It's simply over the top Italian goodness, and starts off with yet another fairly violent punch up between Gemma and Puppo. I won't spoil it for you here, and all I'm going to say is that I watched it twice in a row.
The heist is fairly tense and detailed too. Throw in a couple of twists and double crosses, and you've got yet another fine Italian crime movie, a genre they seemed to excel at.
