Film Screening:

Topkapi
(Jules Dassin, 1964, 119 min, USA, in English, French, Turkish, German, Greek & Italian w/ English subtitles, Color, DVD)

-- Presented in conjunction with the Nasher Museum exhibition, Doris Duke's Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape and Islamic Art.

After years of enduring movie lampoons of his 1955 crime-caper classic Rififi, director Jules Dassin topped them all with his own spoof, Topkapi. It's a rather disreputable crew that teams up for the elaborate jewel theft in an Istanbul museum, masterminded by Maximillian Schell. Sexy Melina Mercouri (Mrs. Dassin) is probably the best of the batch: the others are Robert Morley (master of all things mechanical), mute acrobat Gilles Segal and Jess Hahn. Bumbling Peter Ustinov (who won an Oscar for his performance) is duped into helping the thieves, and soon finds himself uneasily straddling both sides of the law.

As in Rififi, the theft itself (taking place in Istanbul's Topkapi Palace museum) is played out in near-complete silence. We won't tell you how things turn out; just be advised that money flies out the door when something else flies in the window. Topkapi was based on The Light of Day, a somewhat more somber novel by Eric Ambler.

"One of the very best heist films ever made" -- Austin Chronicle.

"Fun, light hearted, smart and wildly entertaining" -- Apollo Movie Guide.

-- One of the National Board of Review's Top Ten Films of 1964!

-- Peter Ustinov won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his performance in Topkapi!

Cost: Free and Open to the Public

Sponsors: The Nasher Museum of Art and the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image (AMI)