| Greed in the Sun | |
| Director: | Henri Verneuil[1] |
| Producer: | Alain Poiré Irenee Leriche Robert Sussfeld |
| Screenplay: | Marcel Jullian |
| Starring: | Jean-Paul Belmondo Lino Ventura Reginald Kernan |
| Music: | Georges Delerue |
| Cinematography: | Marcel Grignon |
| Editing: | Claude Durand |
| Studio: | Gaumont Ultra Film Trianon Movies |
| Runtime: | 122 minutes[2] |
| Country: | France Italy |
| Language: | French |
| Gross: | 3.4 million admissions (France)[3] |
Greed in the Sun (French: '''Cent mille dollars au soleil''') is a 1964 French-Italian adventure film directed by Henri Verneuil. The film was entered into the 1964 Cannes Film Festival.[4]
The forwarder Castigliano instructs Steiner to drive a new truck with a payload through the Sahara Desert. Steiner is new to the operation and is viewed with suspicion by the other employees. In the evening Steiner goes out with Rocco, Marec and some colleagues. The next morning the truck is gone. Castigliano is furious and orders Marec to retrieve the truck which was stolen by Rocco. Rocco with his girlfriend Pepa head towards the border. A wild chase begins through the deserts and impassable areas.
Marec travels with Steiner. When crossing a state it turns out that Steiner is actually called Frocht; he was the leader of a band of mercenaries in a coup d'état. Rocco succeeds in shaking off Marec several times. Mitch has to repeatedly come to the aide of Marec. After Rocco’s truck breaks down, he sets a trap for Marec and Steiner. Rocco forces Marec at gunpoint to exchange his roadworthy truck with the defective truck. Steiner tries to fight back and receives a gunshot through his leg. Rocco leaves Marec and Steiner stranded in the desert. Rocco tries to sell the cargo for $100,000 to a fence.
Marec and Steiner finally make it to the next town, where Marec abandons Steiner after expressing his disgust for the man and happens across Rocco in a brothel. A wild brawl erupts between the two, and when they are both too weak to beat each other up further, Rocco admits that he showed up to the rendezvous with the fence but the fence was not there. When he came back to the hotel, he discovered that Pepa had made off with the truck and the payload.
Director Henry Verneuil said the film was "a Western, but since in France we don't have horses, I use trucks. I give Jean Paul the hat, blue jeans, boots of a cowboy. He's one of the few young actors in France who is young and manly."[5]
The film was a box office hit in France.[3] It was the seventh most popular film of the year at the French box office.[6]
New York Times film critic Howard Thompson gave mixed review of the film, stating that "Some interesting ingredients hover in mid-air throughout this overlong film, which lacks real cohesion or impact".[7]
The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival.