Vintage 1955 French film noir that's reminiscent of The Asphalt Jungle (1950). Jean Servais brings a certain ambience to the lead role that's part George Raft and part Humphrey Bogart with just a little Joe Pesci thrown in for good measure. Good stuff. Very, very good stuff.
Jules Dassin's masterpiece, Du rififi chez les hommes is a tremendous noir with masterful performances and beautiful photography all of which contribute in making it one of the best heist flicks of all time. The half and hour silent robbery is perhaps the best heist sequence ever shown on screen, sparse dialogues and no music create simmering tension in Rififi which really shouldn't be missed.
Expatriate filmmaker Jules Dassin pulls off a paris style noir masterpiece. Starring a great world-weary french Bogey Jean Servais. full of all my beloved noir keys, darkness, gloomy atmospheres, losers without a dime but with everything at stake, a well planned but ultimately gone wrong heist and the unavoidable disastrous destiny knocking on everybody's door. suspenseful, deep and utterly compelling.
An extraordinary heist movie, much deeper and artistic than most films in the genre. "Rififi" has a simple, common premise, but it is treated masterfully by Dassin. The robbery sequence deserves all its fame: it's tense and exciting, though it may sound boring when you read about it. The four robbers are captivating characters, well acted and dynamic. The setting is dark and oppressive, which added to the violence, makes the film a sample of human decadence, and the extreme individualism of our behavior. "Rififi" is still suspenseful and entertaining, despite its age, and I highly recommend it to crime film lovers.
Another Jules Dassin Classic, 2 italians and 2 frenchmen pull a job that will ensure their retirement, until the black hand of destiny pulls them out of bliss and into harms way.
Fantastic heist movie, and fantastic heist scene... Kind of like Unforgiven for french thieves. After this and Night and the City, I need to see more Jules Dassin.
A great story about four guys who commit a very well thought out and planned jewelry heist. The theives commit the crime in a thirty minute long sequence all completely in silence, which is one of the most brilliant scenes in the movie.
Classic French heist movie. has a famous sequence when they are doing the job and there is no dialogue fo 28 (yep twenty eight) minutes. Warning: very much of its time and some people will be shocked by attitudes about women, etc.
A ground breaking film. One of the best heist pictures ever made as well. So engaging and entertaining as well as emotionally compelling. A lot of great performances as well.
Rififi, loosely translated as 'trouble' in French, is a masterpiece, a film highlighted by a glorious, hushed and dialoguefree safe-cracking sequence -- lasting over 30 minutes -- so incredibly realistic that the French police banned the movie for some time, fearing it might serve as an instructional manual.
i know it's said way too much but this film was well ahead of it's time. it's one of the best heist films that i've ever seen and you can definitely see how many films have been inspired by it. made while director Jules Dassin was broke and desperate, with a shoe string budget, it's quite an achievement.
Louise: You're not the only one that had an unhappy childhood, there are millions like you, and, in my eyes, *they* are the tough ones, not you!
A brilliant film noir, about four men pulling off a heist and the aftermath of the event. Made in 1954, this is one of the first caper films and one of the most immitated. You can easily see references made in films like Reservoir Dogs, Ocean's 11, The Score, and many others.
Directed by Jules Dassin who, at that time, had been blacklisted from Hollywood, creates a great film, set in France with a great attention to detail.
The film centers on a man who has just been released from jail for robbery, only to join another group of men for another heist.
The heist takes place around the middle of the film. It is a 30 minute sequence, with no score or dialogue, comprised only of breathing and various noises from the setting. Its a great sequence to watch.
The rest of the film is equally well done, with the various characters all given a good amount of depth.
The tone of the film is very dark. There is a lot of violence and bloodshed. This is a film about criminals, and the film isn't afraid to show a certain level of realism concerning that topic.
As the story unfolds, especially after the heist, I was more and more engrossed in what was going to happen.
It also looks great. France is shown in such a dark way, while being captured beautifully.
The interaction between characters is well done, with a mix of humorous, cold, and witty lines exchanged constantly.
The whole film is so well done, it is easily one of the best all time noirs.
beautiful film. the heist centerpiece is amazing as everyone else has said. my only sticking point is that more time/detail wasn't spent on the resolution.
Such a great movie. It's a heist picture that could pass off as cliche until you remember that this is probably the mold for the others. The heist itself runs about a half hour in almost total silence--brilliantly! If it wasn't for Night in the City I'd say this is Dassin's masterpiece.
Rififi is the first modern heist film. The suspenseful 30-minute heist scene passes without a single word spoken. The planning and execution of the heist is so detailed that people feared that it was an educational film for robbing banks. The other highlight of the film is the great noir setting. Dassin is great at making stylish noirs in city locations. The on location shooting in the streets of Paris precedes the same trademark of the French New Wave. Even though Rififi has been ripped off countless times, it still is superior to its modern descendants such as Ocean's Eleven.
Rififi is usually remembered for its heist sequence (which it fully deserves) but that only constitutes about half the film. The rest of it deals with betrayal, guilt, sacrifice, absolution and, most crucially, revenge. I have always considered Jules Dassin as being one of the most important film-makers in the history of cinema - certainly the most dynamic photographer. Rififi is the kind of film that makes every other film look strangely inferior
A film buff treasure for certain, one often gets lost in Dassin's scope of things. Established 'classic' scenes are less out standing then one would hope, and the Spade rip off is a tad too evident and a tad too stretched.
Anyhow, this is an "art house" piece that is no more self indulgent then I've probably made it to be - I just simply didn't find myself compelled to follow it as I would most Film Noires...
Can we even call it that?
MCT:July 21, 2008
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