TOPKAPI

TOPKAPI, 1964
USA | 35mm, Color, 120’ | English, French, Turkish

Director: Jules Dassin
Cast: Peter Ustinov, Maximilian Schell, Robert Morley

Director Jules Dassin’s film, which won Peter Ustinov the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, is recognized as one of the best heist movies ever made. Telling the story of five thieves who attempt to steal the emerald-encrusted dagger of Mahmud I from the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul, the film’s burglary scene can be considered a masterpiece in terms of its direction and acting. All of the outdoor scenes were shot in Istanbul in this entertaining film about a cat-and-mouse game between an international gang of thieves and the Turkish police who believe they are arms smugglers plotting an assassination.