Audrey Hepburn

HOW TO STEAL A MILLION

20th Century Fox, 1966  Directed by William Wyler.  Camera:  Charles Lang.  With Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Eli Wallach, Hugh Griffith, Charles Boyer.

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Charles Bonnet is an incorrigible third generation art forger in Paris who dupes connoisseurs into labeling his works authentic and then sells them at elevated prices.  So great is his enthusiasm for his profession that he permits his grandfather's "Cellini Venus" to be exhibited at a Paris museum.  His daughter, Nicole, knows that the hoax will be discovered when government officials appraise the statue and, to protect her father, she blackmails "society" burglar Simon Dermott into helping her steal the tiny statue from the museum.  Actually, Simon is a detective who specializes in tracing stolen art objects but, taken by Nicole's charms, he agrees to assist in the burglary.

Using only a magnet, a boomerang, and their wits, Nicole and Simon remove the sculpture from its laser-protected pedestal.  Simon then offers the Venus to Nicole's fiancée, American millionaire David Leland, who is so fanatic about art treasures that, in return for the statue, he agrees to give up Nicole.  Furthermore, he promises Simon never to allow another person to see it.

The affair settled, Simon whisks Nicole off for a honeymoon while Bonnet gleefully plans his next masterpiece.

American Film Institute Catalog