| Synopsis
for Danger: Diabolik: (IMDB)
In a nameless
European country, Inspector Ginco (Michel Piccoli) takes every
precaution to ensure that a $1,000,000 shipment of money reaches
a local bank. Despite having decoy armored trucks, the real
one containing the money is sidetracked to a marina where
a masked career thief, known only as Diabolik (John Phillip
Law) steals the whole truck by lifting up by an electric magnet
and dropping it into the water, where he dives in and retrieves
the money. In a long chase, Diabolik eludes the police by
switching cars with his mistress and partner-in-crime, Eva
Kant (Marisa Mell) who drives Diabolik back to his hideout,
a remote cave in a mountain side which has miles of underground
passageways, and their living quarters is a mod of various
expensive designed bought with their ill gotten money.
Having
heard of the latest robbery by the masked thief, the Minister
of the Interior (Terry Thomas) arranges for a press conference.
But Diabolik and Eva sneak into the conference disgused
as reporters where, using their flash bulbs on their camera,
they set off some 'exhilarating gas'. When the Minister
informs the press of this latest theft and preaching to
the reporters that he is not to be made a fool of, the Minister
is reduced to just that when the gas reduces everyone in
the room to hysterical laughter, while Diabolik and Eva
quietly leave unnoticed.
Following
the press conference, Inspector Ginco attempts to resign.
But his boss (Claudio Gora) refuses to accept his resignation.
Ginco reluctantly agrees to stay on the police force, and
is subsequently put in charge of the current plan to put
all criminals behind bars. With tireless precision, Ginco
and his men clean up the city. Mobsters are put behind bars,
and then executed. When a drug den is raided, the jaded
hippies and drug addicted are carted off.
Ralph
Valmont (Adolfo Celi), the head of a large crime syndicate
which is responsible for most of the murders and drug trafficking
in the country, learns about the raid on one of his establishments,
and makes contact with Inspector Ginco. In exchange for
his life, Valmont promises to help Ginco capture Diabolik.
When
the visiting British finance minister and his wife are honored
at a gala party in a large castle by the beach, the press,
encouraged by Ginco, play up the wifes recent acquisition
of a rare emerald necklace, which is to be unveiled at the
celebration. Ginco knows that Diabolik will not pass up
the chance to steal the valuable jewelry, so he and his
men lay in wait all around the castle for Diabolik to show
up. Diabolik does show up, by scaling the seaside wall of
the castle to the living quarters of the finance minister's
wife where he steals the necklace, and makes another clever
escape by constructing a makeshift catapult, but tricks
Gino and the police into thinking he used it to eject himself
to safety, when he really hides underneath it and simply
walks out of the castle dressed as a policeman.
Meanwhile,
Valmont and henchmen recognize Eva at an Esso filling station,
and they kidnap her. After making contact with Diabolik
though a local newspaper, he promises to hand over the emerald
necklace in exchange for Eva. Valmont wants to meet Diabolik
aboard his private airplane. The following evening, Diabolik
meets with Valmont's henchmen who herd him aboard Valmont's
plane which takes off. But it is revealed that this is all
part of Ginco's plan for once the plane reaches a destined
spot, Valmont is to release a trap door on his plane which
will literally drop Diabolik into the inspector's lap. But
the plan backfires greatly when Diabolik figures out what
is going on and in the subsequent shoot-out aboard the plane,
Diabolik frees Eva, and he and Valmont stuggle in which
they fall through the trapdoor, but Diabolik leaves behind
a bomb which explodes, killing all of Valmont's henchmen.
The three of them parachute to safely on the ground near
the police rendezvous spot where in a continuation shoot-out,
Diabolik kills Valmont by shooting him before apparently
committing suicide when Ginco and the police close in on
him.
Ginco
is saddened by Diabolik's death for he never got the chance
to really arrest him. But Diabolik is not dead. During the
shoot-out he took a drug which slowed down his heart and
matabolsim to the point where he appeared dead. At the mourge,
Eva, disguised as a nurse, arrives and administrates the
antidote. Diabolik awakens, and kills the coroner before
making his escape.
Unaware
of Diabolik's most recent escape, Gino is puzzled over the
missing emeralds. Upon reading Valmont's death certificate,
an idea puzzles him. All totaled, there are eleven emeralds
missing. Valmont died form eleven bullet wounds. Ginco realizes
that Diabolik is clever enough to use the jewels as bullets,
therby proving a very safe hiding place for them. Ginco
runs over to the crematorium to inspect Valmont's ashes.
Diabolik, disguised as Valmont's elderly brother, has already
arrived to lay claim to his brother's ashes. When the morgue
attendant begins to scoop the ashes into a urn, he is shocked
to find the emeralds. But before he can do anything, Diabolik
knocks him out, and makes his escape with the emeralds.
As usual, Ginco arrives at the morgue missing Diabolik by
a matter of seconds.
With
no other alternatives open, the police offer a $1 million
rewards to anybody to is able to lead them to Diabolik,
Ginco realizes the foolishness of this plan, but his superiors
refuse to listen him because of his string of bad luck in
trying to catch Diabolik. Soon after, Diabolik sends a note
to the government saying: "in view of the bad use of
the government is making of the public's money, I shall
take steps to remove it from circulation." In a matter
of days, he blows up all tax offices, federal banks, and
treasury buildings to smithereens. The former Minister of
the Interior, now working as the Minister of Finance, makes
another comic appearance on television where he reveals
that with the destruction of the tax offices, the tax records
of all citizens have been destroyed. He employs everybody
to come forward voluntarily and pay the tax they think they
owe. His speech elicts nothing but more laughter from the
TV viewers.
With
the government now strapped for money, Ginco decides to
put one last plan into action. He has the entire gold reserve
melted down into a 20-ton ingot so that it can make up for
the lost taxes. Yet he realizes that Diabolik is going to
attempt to steal it too. Rather than be outwitted again,
Ginco has the container of the gold partially 'radio activated'.
In this way, once it is stolen, he will he able to use radioactive
detectors to lead them to Diabolik's hideout, and leading
him to all of Diabolik's stolen goods.
The
next day, the ingot is duly stolen by Diabolik who sabatoges
the train carrying it by blowing up a railroad bridge, in
which the railroad car containing the large ingot falls
into the river. Diabolik and Eve, donning wet suites, then
use inflatable underwater balloons to transport the large
container though an underwater passage to their hideout.
At Diabolik's
hideout, he dons a protective heat suit and plans to melt
down the gold into gold bricks. But as he's doing so, Ginco
and his men follow their radiation tracker devices to the
underground lair and make their entry. For the first time,
Diabolik is caught off-guard by the advancing police, but
not entirely unprepared as he decides to flood the entire
cavern therby destroying himself and everyone in it. But
unaware that the ingot container is partly radioactive,
Diabolik leaves his electric drill on the container in which
the extreme heat from the drill makes the container glow
red hot. Just as Diabolik is about to pull a lever to flood
the cavern, the container explodes, showering him in molten
gold.
The
police are finally delighted to have finally disposed of
Diabolik, and allow reporters and the public into Diabolik's
cave to put on display Diabolik. But Ginco is not at all
pleased by the decision to display the body, which now is
a picturesque gold statue for the general public. The police
and workers begin to haul all the stolen appliances and
loot out of the cave. Later when the cavern is now deserted
and empty, Eva, who had earlier fled at Diabolik's instance,
comes out wearing a black funeral dress to play her respects
to her lover. Ginco appears and places Eva under arrest,
but allows her for a few minutes alone with the body. When
Ginco leaves for a minute, a distraught Eva catches sight
of Diabolik's still exposed left eye. Amazingly, it winks
at her. The protective suit he is wearing has prevented
him from being burned alive, though he is now trapped in
his gold shell. The inspector arrives to take her away.
Soon after they leave, a diabolical laugh rings out in the
dark, empty cave.
(IMDB)
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