This is a fun movie if you don't take it too seriously. Without question, it borrows from all kinds of other movies. The characters are more like caricatures than rounded characters. The main plot involves a heist of gold and other treasures hoarded by the Mussolini regime to fund his war campaign when they were still allies of the German Nazis. The story takes place during the last days of the Second World War, just prior to Mussolini's dethronement.
The movie features elements you may recognize:
Among the good guys: the heist organizer, the sharp-shooter, the alluring young lady, the acrobat, the code-breaker, the race-car driver, and the anarchist.
Among the baddies: the sadistic fascist officer, his wife, a washed-up Hollywood-type actress, and his henchman.
The settings: an officer's palace, a hideout, a militaristic compound with its prisoners and hoard of treasure.
Pietro Lamberti is the amoral entrepreneur who has been trying to sell arms to different militaristic factions with albeit mixed results. His code breaker, Amedeo, intercepts a transmission that Mussolini's hidden treasure might be lifted and taken to Switzerland by one of his high-ranking officers. They know they're going to lose the war, so why not take the money and run? Pietro decides, instead of trading in arms, maybe they can steal the gold.
In true Ocean's 11 style, we hear Pietro's voice-over as he describes the different people he wants to recruit for the heist. Each has a brief scene which tells us who they are, more or less. Sound familiar? There's even a scene which is a throw-back to Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".
True to these kinds of movies, Federal Secretary Borsalino, a sadistic high-ranking officer in Mussolini's regime, runs the Dead Zone. The Dead Zone is a military complex where not only the gold is stashed but where prisoners, both political and military, are incarcerated, some awaiting execution. Borsalino is having an extra-marital affair with a young singer, who also happens to be the lover of Pietro! He is planning to take the gold and the girl no less for himself.
His estranged wife, Nora Cavalieri, is a throw-back to Old Hollywood, but now her career is on the skids because she's older and can no longer play young female characters. She also knows about the gold and the younger woman.
The result is an entertaining and enjoyable fantasy flick where all the different nutty characters interplay. A few twists and turns make the story a bit unpredictable. And as I said at the beginning, if audiences don't take it too seriously, it's 90 minutes of entertaining cinema. Is it based on a true story, as implied? Probably not.
