Film Forum

LE HEIST FRANÇAIS, a two-week, 12-film festival of Gallic crime pictures, celebrating the 70th anniversary of RIFIFI, Jules Dassin’s seminal masterpiece of French Film Noir

Blacklisted Hollywood exile Jules Dassin—raised in East Harlem—went to France and turned a Spillane-esque potboiler by Auguste Le Breton into an existential heist film that earned him the Best Director prize at Cannes and set the standard for screen robberies for decades to come. Jean Servais is poker-faced gangster Tony le Stéphanois, back from prison after taking a rap for Jo le Suédois (Carl Möhner), and ready to settle a few scores. First up is former mistress Mado (Marie Sabouret), whom he strips and whips in one of the most shocking scenes of any era; then it’s on to masterminding a jewelry heist with comrades Möhner, Robert Manuel, and safecracker “César the Milanese” (director Dassin himself using the pseudonym “Perlo Vita”) before the gang is undone by crime and circumstance. 

A worldwide smash, RIFIFI was one of the first films to transcend the crime genre with its groundbreaking juxtaposition of sudden violence, casual humor, and unsavory sexual situations, as well as its generally amoral outlook—including the depiction of a drug addict and the realistic depiction of criminal methodology—all of which led to its condemnation by the Legion of Decency, its outright banning in several countries, and an enduring place in the pantheon of Film Noir. The famous robbery scene—a tense 30-minute sequence without dialogue or music—went on to become an obvious influence on films from RESERVOIR DOGS to MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2, and the word “Rififi” was subsequently stolen for titles of various non-related thrillers. 

LE HEIST FRANÇAIS also includes the greatest of the genre: Godard’s free-associative meditation on the gangster movie BAND OF OUTSIDERS (1964), starring Anna Karina; Jacques Becker’s French policier TOUCHEZ PAS AU GRISBI (1954), a poignant look at friendship and betrayal starring Jean Gabin, Jeanne Moreau, and Lino Ventura (in his debut); Claude Sautet’s penetrating study of a tough guy at the end of his rope CLASSE TOUS RISQUES (1960), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Lino Ventura; Philippe de Broca’s spy movie spoof THAT MAN FROM RIO (1964), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Françoise Dorléac; and the work of the undisputed master of the genre, Jean-Pierre Melville’s BOB LE FLAMBEUR (1955), UN FLIC (1972), LE DEUXIEME SOUFFLE(1966), LE CERCLE ROUGE (1970); and more.

Presented with support from The George Fasel Memorial Fund for Classic French Cinema

Produced and Programmed by Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum Repertory Artistic Director

Films in this Series