Rififi (1955)

Directed by Jules Dassin. Starring Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Jules Dassin, Robert Manuel, Magali Noël, Marcel Lupovici, Claude Sylvain, Marie Sabouret, Robert Hossein, Janine Darcey, Pierre Grasset.

Classic French heist picture overcomes a few merely adequate performances and a gratuitous moment or two in the early-going to emerge a riveting grabber. A four-man crew plots and carries out a daring diamond heist, but Parisian gangster Lupovici catches wind of it, leading to a bloody unraveling in the aftermath. Suspenseful and fatalistic, it’s a stark crime picture that exhibits a ruthless deadpan while stirring the pot with jealousy, betrayal, and vengeance; honor among thieves may have no virtue, but there are still “rules,” and in one unforgettable scene, the repercussions of breaking those “rules” are rueful yet decisive. Deservedly famous for its centerpiece heist sequence, nearly a half-hour without music or dialogue and just the occasional (muted) clatter of bad men at focused, felonious work. Owes a debt to the film that inspired director Dassin in its making (The Asphalt Jungle), but is every bit as masterful and influential to the genre. Based off the Auguste Le Breton novel, “Du Rififi Chez les Hommes” (which is also the full title given to the film’s original release in France); the word “rififi” has no direct English translation, but suggests a “rumble” or “fight.”

91/100