Synopsis
Out of prison after a five-year stretch, jewel thief Tony turns down a quick job his friend Jo offers him, until he discovers that his old girlfriend Mado has become the lover of local gangster Pierre Grutter during Tony's absence. Expanding a minor smash-and-grab into a full-scale jewel heist, Tony and his crew appear to get away clean, but their actions after the job is completed threaten the lives of everyone involved.
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Cast
- Jean ServaisTony le Stéphanois
- Carl MöhnerJo le Suedois
- Robert ManuelMario Ferrati
- Janine DarceyLouise
- Pierre GrassetLouis Grutter aka Louis le Tatoué
- Robert HosseinRémi Grutter
- Marcel LupoviciPierre Grutter
- Dominique MaurinTonio
- Magali NoëlViviane
- Marie SabouretMado
Recommendations
- 100
Christian Science Monitor
Among the picture's many surprises is a superb robbery scene filmed in a near-total silence that contrasts exhilaratingly with the noisy flamboyance of more recent films in this venerable genre. - 100
Boston Globe
It's terse, atmospheric, fatalistic, with vertiginous camera angles and edits offsetting its gray documentary flatness. - 100
Philadelphia Inquirer
The new print does justice to Philippe Agostini's splendidly atmospheric cinematography. - 100
Chicago Tribune
No matter how many heists you've seen, how many gangs you've watched fall apart or how many aging crooks you've seen walk up a mean street to a violent destiny, Rififi never loses its ruthless grace and force. - 100
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The granddaddy of all caper/heist movies. The work that defined the genre for the subsequent four decades of filmmakers, none of whom was able to surpass it for style or suspense. - 100
Entertainment Weekly
It becomes as savage as ''Reservoir Dogs,'' ''The Killing,'' or any of the other dozens of films over which it still casts a shadow. - 100
Los Angeles Times
One of the great crime thrillers, the benchmark all succeeding heist films have been measured against, it's no musty museum piece but a driving, compelling piece of work, redolent of the air of human frailty and fatalistic doom. - 100
San Francisco Examiner
A sweaty-browed exercise in precision filmmaking, but one that doesn't cheat you with wisps of tension and the pretense of attitude.
