Product Description

Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 02/24/2004 Run time: 119 minutes Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86847 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-02-24
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 121 minutes

Customer Reviews

High Crime in Rio worth a look
This film is a solid sixties style tour in every aspect. It is a model of a "Mission Impossible' adventure and resembles an early James Bond flick *(Thunderball) in the carnival scenes and LARGO (minus the eye patch and Spectre ring) is even in THIS picture! A professor (Edward G. Robinson) plans a jewel heist and has four experts handle the theft. All of this takes place in Rio during 'Carnival' and we are shown how professionals work together to obtain the goal. A Playboy, A Safecracker, An Electronics Expert and A Military Enforcer work as the team. There is tension and struggle here that will keep you interested and the melody of the Carnival will remain with you long after the picture is over. A neat little plot twist is included in the ending scene in Rome. Well worth the viewing, not the greatest epic ever made but certainly entertaining.

All this and Klaus Kinski in a sailor suit too!
Grand Slam is a surprisingly enjoyable caper flick, and much more fun than any film with middle-aged men in tight black trousers and Klaus Kinski in a sailor suit has any right to be. I say surprisingly because anything that turns up on the Blue Underground label generally turns out to be a disappointment, but this globe-trotting diversion about a heist in Rio de Janeiro during the carnival looks great and is a much better piece of disposable entertainment than either the Rat Pack or Soderberg's Oceanic efforts. Ennio Morricone's main title is a particularly blatant ripoff of Burt Bacharach and the Tijuana Brass' Casino Royale with il maestro's own special flavoring, but only adds to the fun.

Although the only extras are a photo gallery and trailer, the 2.35:1 transfer is for the most part very good, with excellent vivid color.

A Heist Thriller That's More Than the Sum of its Parts
Late in his career Edward G. Robinson played a string of cultured, intellectual criminals who use their minds rather than their guns. "Grand Slam" allows him to reprise his "Seven Thieves" character--the academic who has turned to crime. He has a foolproof plan to steal a fortune in diamonds from a Rio bank vault during the Carnival. To reveal more would be to kill the suspense of the film. Suffice it to say that, like many Italian crime films of this period it carries a sting in the tail and leaves a bitter aftertaste. Robinson and his criminal colleagues (Adolfo Celi, Klaus Kinski, Riccardo Cucciolla, Robert Hoffmann and Georges Rigaud) are all excellent, as is Janet Leigh in her role as a bank employee whose cooperation must be obtained by hook or by crook.