Summary
As a screenwriter-director Martin Frič showed himself to be a fervent adherent of the detective genre. In 1967 – a year before his death at the age of 66 – he made this crime comedy which is both based on Sebrané zločiny (Collected Crimes), a book by Vilém Hejl, and a variation on the theme of his own 1941 film Těžký život dobrodruha (The Hard Life of an Adventurer). Also in this film, the protagonists are a screenwriter of crime films and a robber who manages to turn his fictitious life into reality. The criminal, Jech, even forces the terrified writer Hudec to accept a “share” in the loot as a reward for “the inspiration” he gave him. Hudec tries in vain to step out of a vicious circle of his own making… Both lovers of absurd subplots and admirers of good acting get what they are looking for in this film, which belongs to the lighter works in Frič’s late directing career. Alongside Jiří Sovák (Hudec) and Čestmír Řanda (Jech) the cast is also dominated by Jiřina Bohdalová in the role of the hero’s energetic wife.
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