colour, dolby stereo, 119 mins/105 mins
Finnish premiere October 15,1982
directed by Mika Kaurismäki
screenplay Aki Kaurismäki and Mika Kaurismäki
cinematography Timo Salminen
sound Mikael Sievers
design Aki Kaurismäki, Heikki Ukkonen, Timo Eränkö
edited by Antti Kari
assistant director Aki Kaurismäki
production Mika Kaurismäki / Villealfa Filmproductions in co-operation with Jörn Donner Productions
music Anssi Tikanmäki
songs and compositions featured
- Finlandia (Jean Sibelius, arr. Anssi Tikanmäki)
- Siks oon mä suruinen, Erottamattomat (Rauli-Sakari & Karhukopla)
- Symphony No.7 (Dmitri Shostakovich)
- Ikkunaprinsessa, Paratiisi (Rauli Badding Somerjoki & The Agents)
- Kestääkö siivet (The Streets)
- Per Vers, runoilija (Juice Leskinen Grand Slam)
cast
- Matti Pellonpää (Manne)
- Pirkko Hämäläinen (Veera)
- Juuso Hirvikangas (Harri)
- Esko Nikkari (Hagström)
- Asmo Hurula (Väyry)
- Jorma Markkula (Mitja)
- Aki Kaurismäki (Ville Alfa)
- Aino Seppo (Tiina)
- Pehr-Olof Sirén (art dealer)
- Ari Piispa (Vasili)
- Veijo Pasanen (Carlos)
- Erkki Thil (croupier)
- Paavo Piskonen (nihilist landowner)
- Sirpa Toivainen (nihilist's wife)
- Veikko Aaltonen (Juippi)
- Elina Kivihalme (Anna-Kaarina)
- Pentti Lahti (saxophone player)
- Pentti Auer (boss)
- Aarre Karén (1st fellow shooting pool)
- Kauko Laurikainen (2nd fellow shooting pool)
- Tuija Vuolle (art dealer's wife)
- Aila Pervonsuo (barmaid)
- Langry Jr. (acrobat)
- Raymond & Lady (illusionist couple)
- Harri Hyttinen (clown)
- Matti Lötjönen (motorcycle policeman)
- Aku Hämäläinen (hotel portier)
- Eija Vilpas (croupier)
- Riitta Havukainen (girl in cabriolet)
- Marius Gaidon (garçon)
- Anssi Tikanmäki (pianist)
- Timo Eränkö, Marita Järvinen, Kari Happonen, Lauri Törhönen, Pekka Hietala, Hannu Väyrynen, MC Corona

Mitja (Jorma Markkula) is rushing out of Ville Alfa's place with a hot piece of art.
The vehicle is a 1964 Pontiac Parisienne: a clearly Melvillean reference.

A bunch of gangsters claim an old debt from Manne. He is given two weeks to pay in cash or to get hold of a certain painting. Manne's friend Ville Alfa who runs a thrift shop asks him to check whether a freshly arrived painting by Edelfelt is genuine.

When Manne visits Ville Alfa, the gangsters have just left with the painting. The beaten-up Ville catches the flight to Paris to start writing his great historical novel.

On a nightly drive out of Helsinki Manne is accompanied by Veera, an old friend of his who is also in a need to escape. After leaving Veera in Tampere Manne drives along to an old club house which is open for the final time. Manne is joined by his old friends Harri and Juippi. Harri decides to move into Helsinki in the spring, and Manne invites him to stay at his place.

Three months later Harri arrives in Manne's apartment in Helsinki. When driving with Harri, Manne suddenly spots the gangsters outside an undertaker's business. The gangsters beat him up, but at night Manne snatches the painting back from the gangsters.

Manne and Harri escape to Tampere. Manne sells the painting for 80,000 marks; at the same time Harri is waiting in a bar where he shortly meets Veera. She has already left when Manne returns with the money. Harri tells Manne that he just met the lady of his life.

The two men start driving into the countryside. On a small road they suddenly get a flat tyre. A circus owner drives by and offers to mend the tyre overnight. In the evening the circus holds a performance is held to an audience of a motorcycle club and some local characters. The performances are very low-key.

Suddenly a black limousine stops by and Veera is thrown out of it. She throws curses at the businessmen inside the rapidly escaping vehicle. Manne realizes that Veera was the lady Harri was talking about earlier, and Harri finds out that Manne and Veera know each other from a long time. A tension starts to build up between the two men.

The threesome drive along, now being chased by the police as well. In a Jyväskylä hotel, Manne and Veera bring the night together. In the morning Manne gets furious at Harri who had let Veera leave without waking up Manne. In a small bar somewhere down a highway the men finally go their separate ways. Manne continues his journey alone.

In Kuopio, Manne arrives at a hotel and sleeps for the day. He is woken up by Veera's humming in the corridor. She is working at the hotel as cleaning lady. In the evening in the hotel bar, Manne and Harri meet again, this time by accident. They settle their disagreements and are joined by Veera.

The following morning the gangsters arrive at the hotel and shoot Harri to death. Manne and Veera escape, but are again chased by the police. They decide to split and meet again at the Gare du Nord in Paris. Manne continues alone and drives to the hotel where the gangsters are staying. He shoots the gangster boss and gets a ride to the airport. In Paris, Manne meets Veera at the station. In the final scene, they are joined by Ville Alfa in a little café where they all lift a glass of calvados together.

Mika has edited a 15 minutes shorter version of Arvottomat for international distribution. This shorter version has also been circulated as a videotape.

Contrary to the information in Suomen kansallisfilmografia 9, 1981-85 (The Finnish National Filmography, Pt.9), the song "Per Vers, runoilija" that is heard in the film is not performed by Juice Leskinen & Coitus Int. The song is a re-recorded version by Juice Leskinen Grand Slam. His earlier combo Coitus Int had disbanded already in 1975. There is a difference.