They Came to Rob Las Vegas () is a 1968 heist film directed and produced by Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, and starring Gary Lockwood, Elke Sommer, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Palance, Jean Servais and Roger Hanin. The storyline concerns a crime outfit who plan a heist to rob a hi-tech truck containing $7 million in Las Vegas. It is based on the novel Les Hommes de Las Vegas (lit. "The Men of Las Vegas") by French author .
The film was a co-production between Spanish, French, Italian, and West German companies. It won Best Film and Best Director (for Isai-Isasmendi) at the 1969 CEC Awards.
Plot Steve Skorsky has a reputation in security transport for financial institutions. His security trucks have armed guards and computer controlled routing. According to the plot, no one had successfully raided a Skorsky truck before the events of the film.
Ex-mobster Gino Vincenzo escapes from prison and plans to rob a Skorsky truck with his brother Tony in an armed assault, but Tony turns down the idea saying it needs more planning. Gino goes ahead anyway and he and his gang are killed in the attempt.
Tony plans a new robbery, but Treasury Department Inspector Douglas is also after Skorsky as he uses his trucks to move illicit gold bullion for the Mafia. Under the alias "Tony Ferris", he takes a job as a dealer in a Las Vegas casino in order to seduce Anne Bennett, Skorsky's secretary and mistress. She is a compulsive gambler and Tony helps her to win in return for a share of the profits. She falls in love with him and he persuades her to provide the information he needs to ambush a Skorsky truck in the Nevada desert. He and his gang hide the truck in an underground bunker where they will have time to either persuade the crew to come out, or break into it, but impatience gets the better of the gang members who try to employ their own methods.
The plan starts to disintegrate as Douglas, Skorsky, and the mobsters all try to find the truck which seems to have vanished. Tony eventually succeeds, but Anne urges him to forget about the money and run away with her so that they can be together. It's then that she realises it was never about the money. It was about ruining Skorsky's reputation in revenge for the death of Tony's brother.
Cast
Production Filming took place on-location in Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Los Angeles; and in the desertous Almería region of Spain. Studio interiors were shot at Estudios Balcázar in Barcelona and Estudios Moro in Madrid.
Release It debuted in Spain on 31 October 1968, and was released internationally by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts.
Home media The film was released on DVD in North America by the Warner Archive Collection.
Reception According to a September 1976 issue of Variety, it did poorly in the United States but was successful overseas.
Awards and nominations +InstitutionYearCategoryNomineeResultCírculo de Escritores Cinematográficos1969Best FilmBest DirectorAntonio Isasi-IsasmendiSant Jordi Awards1969Best Film1968Best FilmBest DirectorAntonio Isasi-IsasmendiBest Set DecoratorJuan Alberto Soler, Antonio CortésBest Technical Achievement
See also List of films set in Las Vegas
References
Bibliography
External links