Runtime: 98 minutes
Directed by: Jean-Pierre Melville
Starring: Roger Duchense, Isabelle Corey, Daniel Cauchy, Guy Decomble, Andre Garet
From: Several different French companies
For awhile now I've been wanting to see this Melville movie; however, a nice copy of it for cheap was just not out there. I am glad I waited until it played on TCM earlier in the month during a weekend devoted to Paris and French movies as it was in good quality. It was DVR'ed and I finally saw the movie last night.
The title translated to English is “Bob the Gambler”, who that older gentleman indeed is. He is a well-liked cat (he even counts the chief of police as a pal) and after spending time w/ Bob and the others he associates with-including a comely young dame named Anne-you see that his luck takes a nosedive. Desperate, he decides on a daring casino heist (I'll safely presume Ocean's 11 was inspired by this) despite the odds being extremely long that it can be pulled off.
Of course I don't want to reveal too much of the journey; while a lot of it is what you'd expect from a heist picture, there definitely are some surprises along the way. There are colorful characters-personally, Isabelle Corey as Anne stood out and as she was only SIXTEEN when this was filmed I am only referring to her performance-a cool score that featured jazz, scene transitions that were usually band wipes that went from left to right—although once it went from up to down for variety's sake, I presume. I've seen others note that this had to be an influence on the upcoming French New Wave; there's no doubt in my mind that's true. If you want a caper movie infused w/ old French cool a la Rififi or Le Cercle Rouge yet is different from those two, Bob Le Flambeur just may steal your heart.
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