Jules Dassin's comedy caper Topkapi has as many problems as it does successes. It was enjoyable enough half the time, but frustratingly inadequate the other half. There is an impressive symmetry to the film; it seems that for every positive there is an equal and opposite negative to counterbalance it. If the concept weren't so illogical, I'd say the director had planned it.
The best part of this movie, as with any Dassin film, is its ending. There is not a single misstep in the 20-minute heist sequence; the audience feels the anxiety and tension the characters are experiencing and cannot look away. Coincidentally, the worst part of this movie is its beginning. The film starts with a 10-minute hallucinatory "explanation" of the protagonist's motivation in an unintelligible foreign accent. It must have turned away untold multitudes of previously interested filmgoers. While the dialogue and characters were amusing, the accents and music were annoying. The promising build-up to the climax was disrupted by a bizarre and wholly unnecessary homoerotic oiled wrestling orgy. (It is so difficult to grab onto a shirtless oiled wrestler, it seems, that most end up shoving their hands down the other contestants' pants just to be able to grip onto something.) Still, most of the negatives are unintentionally humorous in their own way and can be used as excuses to further enjoy the movie; so if you're interested in heist movies, check this one out.IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0058672/