Someone in our Research Department failed their job miserably and I was led to believe that tonight's feature was another secret agent flick with a '7' in the title, but in reality it is just a bank heist movie, but I'll say this, at least it's a good one! The employee who provided the false information won't be seeing any daylight for quite some time, but on a positive note, the Iron Maiden was just his size!
Nevertheless, "Sette Uomini D'Oro" is an interesting movie and it has a lot of those kind of special features in it that make these kind of movies so great!
Here's just a sample of some of cool high-tech gadgetry used in this caper! That's the man in charge of calling all the shots! He's known as the Professor because he's so damn smart! Right here, he's monitoring what the other six golden men are up to!
The Professor has an intricate plan that involves his men posing as city workers, going underground through some water where they come up under a Swiss Bank that is the gold depository for the whole country! Believe it or not, it was illegal in Switzerland to film a bank robbery, so the Director had to fudge on the script to be able to get this footage shot! Now that's Gonzo film making!
If I just picked out certain stills like this with no explanation, you might just think this was a Science Fiction film!
The seven golden men are named Albert, Adolph, Aldo, August, Anthony, Alfonso, and Alfred! None of their characters are too fully developed because these guys are on a mission, and they don't have a lot of time to stand around chattering mindlessly!
Actually, the Professor is the one named Albert, and he's played by Philippe Leroy, a bit of an overachiever himself! With 183 credits to his name, Philippe has been on the big screen and the tube constantly from 1960 until just a couple of years ago!
The Professor continues to monitor the whole operation on his sophisticated video equipment!
Four of the A's are guiding a giant drilling machine positioned directly beneath the gold depository!
And the walls come tumbling down! The music for "Uomini D'Oro" was composed by Maestro Armando Trovajoli who also wrote the scores for "Hercules and the Captive Women," "Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules," Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory," and "Hercules in the Haunted World," among his total of 218 credits!
Here's a just a taste of what the Maestro can serve up during a chase scene!
During a tense moment, there's an impromptu security inspection before the robbery is complete!
The golden men are forced to hold their facade in place from below!
Everything is obviously secure, so the big vault door closes back up!
The Professor's plan is meticulous, and the gold men clean up after themselves like nothing ever happened! "7 Golden Men" has a runtime of 95 minutes, and it takes them almost an hour to get from the opening credits to here! Two thirds of the film is the execution of the robbery itself!
The female lead and the eye candy in "7 Golden Men" is the Libyan born, and ravishing Rossana Podestà as Giorgia, the Professor's main squeeze! Rossana also starred in the sequel made the following year, "Seven Golden Men Strike Again!" Rossana just passed away this past December at the age of 79!
Just like the dinosaurs, it's kind of sad to know that grandiose cars like this will never ever be produced again!
The flatbed truck carrying the stolen gold disguised as brass uncontrollable plows into a news stand!
There's a mad and greedy scramble to snag some free gold, and even the kids get involved!
Giorgia double crosses the Professor, but he takes her back, the Professor double crosses the other six guys, and they lose all the gold, but they forgive him, and before the movie is over, they're already working on a new heist together!
I really enjoy this movie (and the soundtrack).
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