Vabank DVD
[dv526]

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 30 June, 2009.

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Price: $19.95

Item Description

Comedy. The 30`s. The best burglar in the country leaves prison after serving six years. He is ready to get even with his partner who put him there.

Warszawa, lata trzydzieste. Doswiadczony kasiarz Kwinto opuszcza wiezienie po odsiedzeniu szescioletniego wyroku. Odrzuca propozycje wspolpracy z debiutantami Moksem i Nuta. W hotelu odwiedza go Kramer, wlasciciel podejrzanego banku. To on wystawil Kmicie skok na swoj bank, po czym powiadomil policje. W ten sposob zatarl wlasne malwersacje, a kasiarzowi przynosi teraz pokazna sume, jako rekompensate, spotyka sie jednak z bardzo zimnym przyjeciem. Kwinto sklada wizyte w mieszkaniu swego przyjaciela, Tadeusza i dowiaduje sie, ze ten nie zyje. W jego smierci, uznanej przez policje za samobojcza, maczal palce Kramer. Zona i coreczka Tadeusza pozostaly wlasciwie bez srodkow do zycia. Kwinto obmysla wyrafinowana zemste i kontaktuje sie z Moksem i Nuta, wciagajac do wspolpracy Dunczyka, specjaliste od bankowych systemow alarmowych. Kramer usiluje pozbyc sie kasiarza, nasylajac na niego mordercow, jednak bez powodzenia. Plan Kwinty jest niezwykle przebiegly. Po udanym oproznieniu skarbca czesc lupu zostaje podrzucona do domu bankiera, a niepozorna blaszka blokujaca system alarmowy, na ktorej znajduja sie jego linie papilarne Kramera, trafia w rece policji. Na nic zdaje sie zelazne alibi, ktore okazalo sie byc spreparowane dla Kramera przez Kwinte. Bankiera aresztuja, wspolnicy dziela lup, ktorego czesc otrzymuje anonimowo zona Tadeusza. Komedia retro bedaca pastiszem najlepszych wzorow gatunku.

Cast: Jan Machulski, Leonard Pietraszak, Witold Pyrkosz.
Directed by Juliusz Machulski.
1981, Color, 105 mins.
In Polish with English Subtitles.

Product Reviews

themysterysite.com - 05/02/2008

Vabank (the American title is sometimes given as Hit The Bank) is a 1981 Polish mystery thriller about a bank heist by writer and director Juliusz Machulski that stars his father, Jan Machulski, as Kwinto, a safecracker. Vabank is a very strange and often comic thriller and a very original movie both in tone and in how the story itself is told. Vabank opens with a very polite jewelry store robbery, a circus performance in an apartment courtyard during which a man is pushed out a window, the release of a prisoner, Kwinto, who is then "taken for a ride", and a crooked bank manager (Kramer) threatened by one of his clients after the latter was advised to deposit his money under the phony name of Kowalski (in English it would be John Smith). It turns out Kwinto, the ex-con, and Kramer, the bank manager, were once part of a scheme together during which the former was caught after Kramer betrayed him. You learn all this when Kramer visits Kwinto and bears his soul and tries to by some peace of mind, or so it would seem. Kramer then dares his former associate to rob his bank and then sends off henchmen to kill the safecracker before he can gather up associates and take up the challenge. Vabank is an elegant blend of the thriller with some comedy, dark stuff at times, thrown in. The soundtrack for this mystery of sorts sounds more like it belongs to a farce than a thriller yet it works. Machulski balances between both genres effortlessly and this makes Vabank a very special and entertaining movie. The comic part of this thriller reaches its peak after the robbery which is only half the story of Vabank. The Vabank DVD I received for review featured a somewhat grainy print that will remind most of a VHS tape than DVD quality. Like a few other similar DVDs, the English subtitles have quite a few misspellings and translation flaws (wrong verb tense, etc) and you sometimes get the feeling the translator was using a bargain bin Polish to English dictionary. This does get a little annoying. Still, this does not really take away from enjoying this very bizarre comedy mystery or from a kind of movie you do not get to see in the mainstream world. This movie was so successful it lead to a follow-up Vabank 2.

Jason Gargano - 05/01/2008

Polish director Juliusz Machulski's capers inspired by Rififi and The Sting offer a hint of the potential missing from Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven and Twelve romps. Vabank tells the story of a master safe cracker named Kwinto (played by Machulski's father Jan) who, once released from prison, exacts revenge on Kramer (Leonard Pietraszak), a former accomplice who turned him in and went on to become an even more crooked bank manager. Kwinto's plan is detailed and tricky, and not without the dark leavening of violence to alert audiences to the high stakes between the two men. Vabank II takes the premise a step further by following Kramer who six years later feels it's time to seek vengeance on Kwinto. The gamesmanship feels more real because the threats are deadly serious. But that doesn't mean Machulski forfeits the right to inject a bit of sly humor into the proceedings. Soderbergh and his talented A-list cast wink and nudge the audience with insider jokes. With the Vabank films, there was less need to completely hoodwink us, therefore we feel like partners in the elaborate con job even when we don't always know what's happening.

Richard J.Brzostek - 05/01/2007

An atypical crime/comedy about a bank heist, September 26, 2006 "Vabank" is a Juliusz Machulski 1981 atypical crime/comedy about a bank heist. The humor is dry and ironic. The motivation for the crime is revenge and justice, not petty theft. Set in 1934, the film opens with an expert safe cracker being released from prison after completing a six-year sentence. He is approached by two aspiring thieves wishing to recruit his talents in a bank heist. He becomes interested when he learns that the man who helped send him to prison is a crocked bank manager working for the target bank. He also learns that a friend of his was murdered by thugs working for the bank. Robbing this bank will allow him to avenge the injustice that had been perpetrated on him and his friend. Although the story is not too complex, it is involved. The suspense built up as the story unfolded. You wonder if they will pull off the heist. I loved how the story came together at the end. Juliusz Machulski may be best known for the comedies he directed, with "Seksmisja" being his most well known and my personal favorite. "Vabank" is different, having a serious tone with some comedy to break up the tension. It is entertaining and one that gets more interesting as it progresses.

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Current Reviews: 3

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Vabank DVD[dv526]

Vabank DVD
[dv526]