Caccia alla volpe
The story begins outside Cairo where Okra (Akim Tamiroff), using a bikini-clad accomplice (Maria Grazia Buccella) as a distraction, hijacks $3 million in gold bullion. The thieves need a way to smuggle the two tons of gold bars into Europe. There are only four master criminals considered capable of smuggling the gold, but each is ruled out: an Frenchman is so crippled that he can barely move his wheelchair; an Irishman is so nearsighted that he is arrested after trying to hold up a police station instead of a bank; a German is so fat he can barely get through a door; and an Italian, Aldo Vanucci (Peter Sellers), also known as The Fox, a master criminal with a talent for disguise, is in prison.
Vanucci knows about the smuggling contract but is reluctant to accept it because he does not want to disgrace his mother and young sister, Gina (Britt Ekland). However, when his three sidekicks inform him that Gina has grown up and does not always come home after school, an enraged, over-protective Vanucci vows to escape. He succeeds by impersonating the prison doctor and convincing the guards that Vanucci has tied him up and escaped. The guards capture the real doctor and bring him face to face with Vanucci, who flees with the aid of his gang. Vanucci returns home where his mother tells him that Gina is working on the Via Veneto. Vanucci takes this to mean that Gina is a prostitute. Disguised as a priest, Aldo sees Gina, who is provocatively dressed, flirting and kissing a fat, middle-aged man. Aldo attacks the man, but it turns out that Gina, who aspires to be a movie star, is merely acting in a low-budget film. Aldo’s actions cost her the role, but he realizes that the smuggling job will make his family’s life better. He makes contact with Okra and agrees to smuggle the gold into Italy for half of the take. Meanwhile, two policemen are constantly on Vanucci’s trail, and he uses several disguises and tricks to throw them off. After seeing a crowd mob over-the-hill American matinee idol Tony Powell (Victor Mature), it strikes Vanucci that movie stars and film crews are idolized and have free rein in society. This idea forms the basis of his master plan.
Vanucci poses as an Italian neo-realist director named Federico Fabrizi. He plans to bring the gold ashore in broad daylight as part of a scene in an avant-garde film. To give the picture an air of legitimacy, he cons the vain Tony Powell to star in the film, blatantly titled The Gold of Cairo — a play on The Gold of Naples, a film De Sica directed in 1954. Powell’s agent, Harry (Martin Balsam) is suspicious of Fabrizi, but his client wants to do the film. Fabrizi enlists the starstruck population of Sevalio, a tiny fishing village, to unload the shipment. However, when the boat carrying the gold is delayed, Fabrizi must actually shoot other scenes for his faux film to keep up the ruse. The ship finally arrives and the townspeople unload the gold, but Okra double-crosses Vanucci and, using a movie smoke machine for cover, drives off with all of the gold. A slapstick car chase ensues, ending with Okra, Vanucci and the police crashing into each other. Vanucci, Tony Powell, Gina, Okra, and the villagers are accused of being co-conspirators. As evidence against them, Vanucci’s "film" is shown in court. An Italian film critic leaps to his feet and proclaims the disjointed footage to be a masterpiece. Vanucci suffers a crisis of conscience and confesses his guilt in court, thereby vindicating the villagers, but proclaiming that he will escape from prison once again.
The film's final scene shows Vanucci escaping from prison by impersonating the prison doctor again. This time, however, he ties the doctor up and walks out of the prison in his place. When he attempts to remove the fake beard that is part of his disguise, he discovers that the beard is real, and realizes that the "wrong man" has escaped from prison.
satire