Le Cercle Rouge

Le Cercle Rouge (1970)

Runtime: 140 minutes

Directed by: Jean-Pierre Melville

Starring: Alain Delon, Bourvil, Gian Maria Volante, Yves Montand, Paul Crauchet

From: Several French/Italian companies

This French/Italian caper is pretty great: 

This movie... it is effortlessly cool. Le Cercle Rouge is 140 minutes long and takes its time, but that does not make it boring. Rather, this story of how a con artist just released from prison, a wise convict breaking free from being transported to prison, and an alcoholic ex-cop attempt to rob a high-end jewelry story is greatly enthralling and this movie is just great in general.
The incredibly French actors that lead this (Alain Delon, Bourvil, Yves Montand) all do a bang-up job, along with Gian Maria Volante. The story always intrigues-along with the trio attempting the heist, the cop that allowed the convict to get away, of course he wants redemption and that does mean what can kindly be called “bending the rules” to get the job done. Jean-Pierre Melville did a fantastic job directing this, and the locations they shot at were all lovely in their own ways, whether it was Paris (where there were Citroens as far as the eye could see), a roadside cafe, an estate out in the forest, or the woods themselves.

What tied all this together was the astounding jazz score from Eric Demarsan; it set the mood perfectly & dictated the pace this film would follow. In case there are any doubts as to the effectiveness of the heist itself... thankfully it was pretty tense and done just about perfectly. Those that love heist films-especially the ones that the French did in the past-need to set time out to check this out, whether it was via the Criterion release or via other methods.