It's always fun when a movie allows you to root for the crooks -- Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, Ocean's 11, The Sting, among many others. The Happy Thieves is another one in the bunch where the main characters are a set of classy criminals whose only faults are that they chose a lucrative life of crime over an honest job. Other than that, they're educated, sophisticated, and have more class than Mr. Kotter.
The three "happy" thieves (who, by the way, aren't especially happy) who make up the film's main trio are Jim Bourne (Rex Harrison), Eve Lewis (Rita Hayworth), and Jean Marie Calbert (Joseph Wiseman), all with particular parts to play in the heists they pull. At least, they all have their parts in the heist we see them pulling off at the opening of the film: the theft of a painting from a wealthy man's mansion.
Jean is in charge of replicating the prize painting, so Jim can sneak in at night and do the ol' switcheroo, the replica in place of the real thing. All the while, Eve waits in the car for Jim to bring out the painting. She drives off with it towards the train station, all in hopes to slip by customs and deliver the painting to the man who commissioned their theft.
Everything goes to plan until Eve realizes she has misplaced the painting. The three thieves begin retracing steps, panic, and eventually find out that the man from whom they stole the painting had got the best of them, with the intention of blackmailing the three thieves into stealing another priceless painting from a highly guarded museum in Spain. Stealing this particular painting from this particular museum is an impossible task by Jim's measures, but with the leverage the wealthy man has on them, they have no choice but orchestrate a highly complex theft.
This setup shouldn't be terribly unknown to anyone who has watched a movie about heists. Although it's hard to fault The Happy Thieves for plagiarism, as it is not exactly a new release. Still, the pickle the three thieves find themselves in is not a very interesting one. As convincing as the actors portray the characters -- Rita Hayworth plays the most interesting character as a fidgety alcoholic -- too little is revealed about them for us to really have any invested interest. Jim is charming, sure. He seems friendly. But I don't really care if he goes to prison for life. If a conniving thief is to be the main character, then give us more to sympathize with than just paying his debt to society.
And on a technical level, the master plan for stealing the expensive painting is pretty half-baked. The most unbelievable part of the plan is that Jean is required to replicate a painting three times. That means he has to, by hand, paint priceless works of art to a degree of perfection three times in a matter of only a few days. And this isn't a small canvas painting, it's a Goya that measures something like eight feet by ten feet. It's huge, and the sheer fact that Jean has to repaint it three times in a matter of days seems, well, silly.
If you're a fan of caper movies, don't watch this one simply because of its title or plot. It's not especially thrilling. It is however entertaining to watch some of the acting. There are some funny exchanges between the actors that could be pulled right out of modern day comedies. Both Rita and Rex are legends, and deservedly so. It's an effortless cake-walk for both of them in this movie, and it's fun to watch them.
DVD Bonus Features
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"The Happy Thieves" is on sale April 18, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy. Directed by George Marshall. Written by John Gay. Starring Joseph Wiseman, Rex Harrison, Rita Hayworth.
