Out of an Alain Delon three-film marathon, this was the one I was most looking forward to but, surprisingly, ended up being the most disappointing. The fact that the Italian TV broadcast suffered from intermittent instances of bad reception had a lot to do with this, I guess, but I also found the film (which was adapted from a novel by crime expert Jose' Giovanni, dealing with a search for treasure lost at sea) rather an inconsequential trifle!
Still, the proceedings are considerably bolstered by attractive locations, the delectable Joanna Shimkus (even if her character, who hitches with stars Delon and Lino Ventura far too quickly, is killed off half-way through) and Francois de Roubaix's delightful score. Delon playing a dashing, reckless flier is his typically inexpressive self, but Ventura is as strong as ever as his inventor/racing-car enthusiast partner; also notable is Serge Reggiani as a nervous yet shifty hanger-on who eventually reveals the exact whereabouts of the crashed airplane in which the loot is stashed. Incidentally, the abandoned fortress in mid-ocean (Shimkus dreams of owning it, but which is eventually purchased by Ventura after her demise with his share of the recovered fortune) is a great setting which director Enrico ably employs for the film's action climax (even if the gangsters who assault Ventura and Delon, who are also after the money, make for a bunch of anonymous villains).
Still, the proceedings are considerably bolstered by attractive locations, the delectable Joanna Shimkus (even if her character, who hitches with stars Delon and Lino Ventura far too quickly, is killed off half-way through) and Francois de Roubaix's delightful score. Delon playing a dashing, reckless flier is his typically inexpressive self, but Ventura is as strong as ever as his inventor/racing-car enthusiast partner; also notable is Serge Reggiani as a nervous yet shifty hanger-on who eventually reveals the exact whereabouts of the crashed airplane in which the loot is stashed. Incidentally, the abandoned fortress in mid-ocean (Shimkus dreams of owning it, but which is eventually purchased by Ventura after her demise with his share of the recovered fortune) is a great setting which director Enrico ably employs for the film's action climax (even if the gangsters who assault Ventura and Delon, who are also after the money, make for a bunch of anonymous villains).