# Help me identify another movie (or the novel it was based on) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 25, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-another-movie-or-the-novel-it-was-based-on/923882 "2020-10-25T22:58:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-another-movie-or-the-novel-it-was-based-on/923882/1 "2020-10-25T22:58:31Z")
I saw this one on Russian TV in the late '80s. It was a Soviet production, but it was set in the USA (New York City, IIRC). I’m pretty sure it was either (a) a remake of an American movie or (b) based on a novel by an American author. Scenario: A Vietnam vet, possibly dying from Agent Orange, puts together a gang of four or five for a big heist on the waterfront. They meet for the first time in some run-down shed or warehouse, and he introduces them one by one. The only gangster whose name I can remember was called “Gyppo.” I think they had all served together in Vietnam. And that’s about all I know, since it was in the form of a serial and I only saw the first episode or two. I do remember it opened with a shot of an “American” police car parked in front of a house in a working-class neighborhood. The cops were probably there to talk to the leader of the gang because they suspected him of another crime. To be clear, this was NOT a remake of _ **Reservoir Dogs** _. It came out long before Tarantino had even made his mark in Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-another-movie-or-the-novel-it-was-based-on/923882/2 "2020-10-26T21:02:30Z")
I’m drawing a blank. _Dead Presidents_ is to recent. _Ocean’s 11_ is too old. _Seven Thieves_, is too old, and doesn’t have the military angle. _The League of Gentlemen_ is too old, and set in the wrong country. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-another-movie-or-the-novel-it-was-based-on/923882/3 "2020-10-26T21:32:10Z")
Do the Russians go in for “re-imagining”? Would they take a story about WW2 veterans, and bump it up a couple of decades? Or take a British story, and transplant it to the U.S.? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-another-movie-or-the-novel-it-was-based-on/923882/4 "2020-10-26T21:59:12Z")
I think I’ve found it. I did a search with Джиппо (“Gyppo” in Russian) and came up with this: [Мираж (фильм, 1983) — Википедия](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B6_(%D1%84%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BC,_1983)) The Russian title is _ **Mirage** _ and it’s based on the 1959 novel _ **The World in My Pocket** _ by British writer James Hadley Chase. In a nutshell, a woman who can’t cash in on her father’s life insurance because he committed suicide turns to a professional criminal to knock off an armored car carrying $3 million. The heist goes down, but everything rapidly turns to shit and everybody’s dead by the end. Bummer! ☹