Operation Gold (1966)

- Balearic Caper
Better than I was led to believe, 29 June 2017

When a jewel encrusted gold scepter is found off the coast of Ibiza, it attracts a lot of attention from some unsavory characters. There are several groups of would-be thieves who want to steal the valuable artifact from the local museum. As luck would have it, all of the people vying to steal the scepter just happen to plan their robberies for the same night. Before sunrise, there will be multiple fake scepters in play, only adding to the confusion.

While I would never call Operation Gold (or Baleric Caper) a great movie, I had a pretty good time with it. It's the kind of movie that can be fun if you don't take things overly serious. It's basically a Euro-heist film with a comedic twist. I enjoy most heist films, but generally don't care for 60s Euro-comedies. I find many of these films too broad and slapstick for my taste. You need look no further than Secret Agent Black Forest (I think that was his name) in Operation Gold for an example of what I'm talking about. But I'm happy to say that a lot of the comedy here actually worked on me. I laughed out loud a time or two when the scepters were changing hands every few minutes in the final act. Fortunately, when the comedy doesn't work, there's enough action to keep things moving along. The pacing is good with very few moments that I would call dull. There are also plenty of spy-type gadgets to keep things interesting. The self-driving smart car and the levitating crate were a bit much, but I did get a kick out of the magnetic boots. The Ibiza scenery is another plus. Mediterranean locations always work on me. Finally, the cast was better than I expected. Bond alum Daniela Bianchi may be the name, but she's not in the movie long enough to be the real star. Venantino Venantini, Mirelle Darc, and Marilu Tolo stand out and make the film for me.

6/10