Ever Seen It: Topkapi (1964)

In 1955 Jules Dassin made the definitive caper film Rififi whose fame was further immortalized by a speechless heist where action reigns supreme. Eleven years later, after a slew of comical heist films clearly inspired by Dassin’s, he returned with a comedy of his own and succeeded in outdoing the competition. His 1964 film, Topkapi, is based on a novel by Eric Ambler and sets its sights on an emerald encrusted dagger housed behind glass in Istanbul’s impressive Topkapi Museum.

A professional thief amasses a crew of amateurs to help in the production. An acrobat to hover above the pressure sensitive floor, a strong man to hold the rope, and a bumbling fool to drive the car across the Turkish border. Naturally, the plan unfolds with both major and minor glitches yet the suspense depends as much on these as it does the heist itself. Dassin infuses small points with humor and sighs of relief, saving the biggest for an age-old idiom.

The caper film has only become more popular with the recent slew of films and remakes in the past decade. There exists an inherent suspense in a ragtag group of criminals defying the law and the audience cheering them on. The heist film also appears to be one of the most firmly structured genre films with its archetypical structure falling into three parts; planning, execution, and aftermath. The greatest fun can come from any of the three and the complexities of the inner workings have become spectacle themselves.

Dassin’s contributions to the genre exist at different points along the spectrum but contain enjoyable and influential components respectively. The latter seems to presuppose that conmen love to sit at open-air café on the coast of the Mediterranean and plan their next score. Traces of the suave and charming lead man can be seen as can the need for last minute personnel changes. Topkapi is fun and non-demanding escapist fare that allows mind and body to sit back and watch as comedy and suspense unravel.