Gangsterzy i filantropi (1963)

A brilliant thief known as the Professor, who commands respect in the criminal underworld, devises a plan to rob a van carrying the day’s takings from the Central Department Store. Having worked out the plan in meticulous detail, on the eve of the heist the Professor tells his subordinates to make sure they have alibis. The robbery of the department store van goes according to plan until the Professor’s gang tries to flee the scene. They run into roadworks at a site that has only just been opened to traffic, then are stopped by a passing militiaman, and finally discover that their getaway car—the backup vehicle they were supposed to use to escape—has been immobilized, its wheels stolen. The entire gang is arrested by the militia with the stolen money. Anastazy Kowalski, an employee at a chemical laboratory, is fired after an accidental workplace mishap. Distraught, he goes into a bar, where he accidentally puts the alcohol meter he is carrying into a glass of vodka. He is mistaken for a restaurant inspector, and the owner bribes him. Kowalski then finds a new way to make money: every day he visits a different bar or restaurant and, to the restaurateurs’ dismay, drops the alcohol meter into their drinks, ensuring a steady stream of bribes. However, after experiencing the effects of drinking alcohol, he finds another way to bring in cash. Using a small portable scale, he weighs the dishes brought by the waiters. He receives increasingly large bribes, but in time the restaurateurs rebel against him. One day, during one of his “inspections,” he meets a real inspector in a tavern, who reports him to the militia. The court acquits Kowalski, since the people in the catering trade had offered him the bribes of their own accord, but he receives a summons from the tax office because of his suspicious way of earning money.