The film ended with Elsa""s fatal, selfish attempt to take the Grail from the temple beyond the seal, as it crumbled from earthquakes and she fell into a deep chasm.The second marker was entombed with the knight""s dead brother, and it was believed that the tomb was located in the city of Venice.The vehicle plunged into a river, and Brandt and Hunt escaped underwater after floating the Secretary""s corpse (lighted by a flare) as a decoy to draw the bullets away from them.She denied the charges and claimed she was "a woman of science." She also claimed that she possessed a diary from her estranged and unknown father, and was on a quest for the truth of her identity.]Populated with great character actors in a superb ensemble cast, the film sympathetically displays the believable motivations and everyday, idiosyncratic human personalities of the assembled characters, mostly two-bit criminals (one with a family) and a recently-paroled mastermind criminal (Sam Jaffe) who all dream of and long for a quick, million-dollar jewelry store robbery to provide salvation and a means of getting away for their impoverished lives.