Line #36 Film/Vabank


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vabank.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:[[{{Tagline}} Let's call it even...]]]]
3	[[GenteelInterbellumSetting 1934, Warsaw]]. Henryk Kwinto, the master safecracker, JustGotOutOfJail. He steadfastly [[RetiredOutlaw refuses]] his old pals propositions for getting back into business - fully intending to clean up his act and live as a musician from now on. The past is in the past. Except, of course, for his non-criminal best friend Tadeusz, whom Kwinto goes to visit right after getting out.
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5	And learns that Tadeusz was DrivenToSuicide by financial problems, stemming from having been conned out of all of his money by [[MorallyBankruptBanker Kramer's less-than-honest bank]]. And Kramer, incidentally, is the [[TheStoolPigeon guy who got Kwinto into jail in the first place]]...
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7	The debut of Juliusz Machulski (who went on to make ''Film/SexMission'' and ''Film/{{Kiler}}''), it's a cool, suave, [[MindScrew mind-screwy]] in-universe and out (really, ShellGame of a movie - watch it closely! or leave confused) heist movie cum {{Comedy}}. A sequel was also made, but we're not concerned with it right now.
8	----
9	!!Some tropes you'll find in it. If you look closely:
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11	* AirVentPassageway: The air ducts are brick, though, and Moks (or Nuta? - they're wearing gasmasks for protection from whatever the vents are venting) still makes some noise.
12	* TheAlibi: [[{{Gaslighting}} Carefully staged]] by the crew, complete with [[ChronicEvidenceRetentionSyndrome putting the stolen money in the mark's house]].
13	* AskAStupidQuestion: Followed by a disbelieving MyGodYouAreSerious:
14	-->'''Komisarz Przygoda''': Do you always keep your money in the laundry basket?\
15	'''Kramer''': Of course I do... and my marmelade and teeth powder in the sock drawer, don't you?
16	* BankRobbery: Aside from the main plot, Moks and Nuta are introduced when they rob a jewellery store.
17	* BadGuyBar: A plain, seedy place where you go to hire yourself a ProfessionalKiller.
18	* BedroomAdulteryScene: Downplayed. After leaving prison, Kwinto walks back home, only to find his wife there serving dinner to another man. That man is one of the detectives that put Kwinto behind the bars[[note]]And returns as a ChekhovsGunman at the start of the third act[[/note]]. However, Kwinto himself remains completely stoic throughout this and finding out he's been cuckolded, he simply takes the secret stache of money he kept in a chair and walks out without a single word.
19	* {{Bookends}}: "You've mistaken me for someone else. I'm a musician."
20	* BrandishmentBluff: Moks and Nuta's jeweller-robbing shtick - they show the salesman a gun muffler and rhetorically ask if they should mount it on a gun. They try the trick on Kwinto, who shows them his trumpet muzzle and coldly explains he's a musician. So they leave him be.
21	* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: Seems almost like a standard method of payment.
22	* TheCaper / TheCon: ThePlan being to rob Kramer and then frame him for it.
23	* CaperCrew:
24	** The Mastermind/The Burglar/The Legendary Thief: [[SafeCracking Kwinto]], whose idea this was in the first place,
25	** The Partner In Crime/The Gadget Guy: Dane, who makes plans and works out how to disable the alarm system,
26	** The Distraction/The Roper: [[MsFanservice Natalie]], who keeps Kramer safely out of the way and provides him with the "alibi",
27	** The Drivers/The New Kids: Moks and Nuta, described by Dane as "zealous shoplifters". Their job is tailing Kramer during the preparation phase, driving, fetching and carrying.
28	* CaperRationalization: ItsPersonal.
29	-->'''Kwinto''': Because I refuse to believe in Tadeusz's suicide.
30	* ChekhovsArmoury: All the various, apparently random scenes and characters that show up during first two acts aren't there just for a filler.
31	* ConMan: [[{{Hypocrite}} Kramer]] cons people out of their life savings, using their reluctance to share those savings with the state.
32	-->'''Kramer''': Besides, it's a shade indecent of you to try and scam the tax office.
33	* CoolestClubEver: ''Not'' the BadGuyBar, but the one where Kwinto's (musical) band plays is cool as anything.
34	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Kramer and his slick, slimy secretary, Stawski.
35	* DeadpanSnarker: Kwinto and every single person employed by the police. Kramer is more of a Nervous Snarker, while Dane snarks with barely concealed glee.
36	* DeadManWriting: Blink and you miss it. [[spoiler: Tadeusz has left a note in Kwinto's trumpet]]. The shot is infamous for its duration - most people are going to be at best in the middle of the note when cut happens.
37	* ExactWords: Or perhaps MathematiciansAnswer. When asked if he's duped a somewhat greedy man into, more or less, giving him all his money:
38	-->'''Stawski''': Sir, I do nothing without your knowledge.
39	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Kramer, upon learning of his [[TheDragon right hand guy]] having had Tadeusz murdered, attempts to [[BuyThemOff buy Kwinto off]] with a BriefcaseFullOfMoney. This works about [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaverules as well as you would expect]].
40	* {{Frameup}}: Of the [[FramingTheGuiltyParty guilty party]], in a way.
41	* {{Gaslighting}}: Natalie gives Kramer a wonderful, too good to be true [[TheAlibi alibi]]... which the police [[ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory see right through]]. Especially that her apartament is not there anymore.
42	* GenderedInsult: PlayedForLaughs through and through when the theatre director tries one to [[InspirationalInsult dare]] an actor into a somewhat dangerous stunt... only for the ''leading lady'' to take offence and start complaining.
43	* HardWorkMontage: Dane trying out various shapes for the [[spoiler: alarm-disabling thingy]], although Nuta's part consists mostly of looking bored while the old hand is thinking, sweating, cutting tin sheet and yelling abuse.
44	* HiddenInPlainSight: Natalie's necklace is fastened [[spoiler: with the metal thingy that disables the security system in the bank. So, getting Kramer's fingerprints on it is a simple enough affair...]].
45	* InspectorJavert: Both Karelicki and Przygoda are hard-working, long-suffering, [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]], [[ByTheBookCop by-the-book]] detectives who really have the society's best interests on their minds and persecute nobody unjustly. Kwinto, however, is a default suspect as a freshly out of jail confirmed crook.
46	* ItsProbablyNothing: One of the guards is really [[SubvertedTrope more interested in their]] [[SmartPeoplePlayChess chess game]] than he is in his job.
47	* ItWasHereISwear: Natalie's apartament [[{{Gaslighting}} "mysteriously" vanishes]] overnight...
48	* JustGotOutOfJail: The film opens with Kwinto walking out of it.
49	* JustLikeRobinHood: [[spoiler: The crew takes care to refund the people Kramer's stolen from, or at least Tadeusz's widow]].
50	* MindScrew: ShellGame - the movie. Half the stuff is there purely as distraction - for us or for Kramer. Usually both.
51	* NeverSuicide: Tadeusz was actually pushed out of this window. Kwinto is the only one to believe that, though.
52	* OneLastJob: Kwinto wasn't interested, until he got an [[ItsPersonal incentive]]...
53	* OrgyOfEvidence: Again, carefully planted.
54	* ProfessionalKiller: Hired to kill Kwinto and ultimately [[AssassinOutclassin outclassed pretty hard]].
55	* PunBasedTitle: On ''va banque''.
56	* RetiredOutlaw: Kwinto, Kramer ([[WhiteCollarCrime ostensibly]]), Dane.
57	* TheRoaringTwenties: Technically, TheGreatDepression, since the movie is set in 1934, but doesn't really feel like it.
58	* RunningGag: Dane buys a new show business establishment (and sells his old one) every two years. The boys attempt to find him by tracking the classifieds in the newspaper, but Kwinto, who knows all his friend's weaknesses, goes to meet him at the soccer match instead (Dane never misses a game). [[spoiler: Later on, it turns out the photoplasticon for sale really does belong to Dane, and the crew's planning sessions take place there.]]
59	* ScreamingWoman: The circus girl screams quite loudly at the sight of Tadeusz falling out his window.
60	* SearchingTheStalls: The group briefly hides in a bathroom upstairs of the bank. The one guard who [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy takes his job seriously]] and searches the stalls is outnumbered.
61	* TheStoic: Kwinto [[TheQuietOne barely speaks]] and never, ever, under any circumstances, loses his cool - including [[spoiler: random police arrest and having to fight his life against an assassin]].
62	* TheStoolPigeon: Kramer used to be one of the [[ItsAllAboutMe Betrayer]] mould, which is how Kwinto ended up in jail. So, little love lost between these two.
63	* TriggerHappy: Moks is a bit too... gleeful at the thought of shooting people.
64	* SwordCane: The ultimate tool for AssassinOutclassin.
65	* TakeMeOutAtTheBallgame: One of the attempts to kill Kwinto.
66	* UnreadablyFastText: One of the most infamous examples in Polish cinematography, and unintentionally so. [[spoiler: The note left by Tadeusz inside the trumpet]] is shown too briefly to read it, cutting to next shot, ''and it's really plot-relevant''. Unless you are viewing it on home media and can pause, there is just no way to read the whole thing.
67	* WillTalkForAPrice:
68	-->'''Usher''': Must 'ave been ill back then.\
69	'''Moks''': (handing him a bill) How about now?\
70	'''Usher''': Now I'm fine.
71	* WorldOfSnark: The older someone is, the snarkier they get.
72	* YouJustRuinedTheShot: A seemingly dramatic, if out of the blue scene turns out to be a [[ProsceniumReveal rehearsal]] in the formerly-owned-by-Dane theater when the actors start complaining about prop guns and changing rooms - Moks and Nuta are almost as confused as we are.

Context Film / Vabank