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Sunday, April 19, 2015

Family Movie Night: Rififi

Title: Rififi
Director: Jules Dassin
Original Release: 1955
Choice: My Wife's
My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5
via Wikipedia
Rififi was American director Jules Dassin's first film in five years after being blacklisted in Hollywood.  Based on Auguste Le Breton's novel Du rififi chez les hommes, the movie tells the story of a beautifully executed jewelry heist that unravels disastrously afterwards.  The robbery itself has inspired several copycat crimes in the real world since.



Parts of the story are riveting: the heist, of course, and also the final act involving the abduction of a child.  The character development that fills the rest of the time is less compelling.  The men are all rotten.  The women are all blameless and treated horribly.  Black-and-white footage of 1950s Paris is quite satisfying.
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14 comments:

  1. Susan KaneApril 19, 2015 at 10:06 PM

    The men are beyond rotten. The heist seems to get lost in the horrid men and helpless women. Oh, things would be different today.

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    1. The Armchair SquidApril 23, 2015 at 5:43 PM

      I don't know if it would be so different. Men abusing women has hardly disappeared from pop culture.

      Delete
  2. Andrew LeonApril 20, 2015 at 12:01 AM

    It does not sound like something I'd enjoy even with my liking of heist movies.

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  3. BirgitApril 20, 2015 at 12:07 PM

    This sounds like it would be a great film if the men would not be as rotten and the women stood up to the men. I have not seen this one but have heard of it. One thing-the Europeans were definitely ahead of the times re: censorship crap than the American film industry

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    1. The Armchair SquidApril 23, 2015 at 5:44 PM

      I hadn't thought of it from that angle. The same movie made in the US at the time would have been quite different.

      Delete
  4. CherdoApril 20, 2015 at 12:20 PM

    "The men are all rotten."

    If you're gonna be a criminal, at least be a criminal. Sounds great, even if the theme is not jovial.

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  5. Susan Gourley/KelleyApril 20, 2015 at 12:48 PM

    I wonder if it was well received in its day. I'm not a big fan of heist movies but they must be popular since so many are made.

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    1. The Armchair SquidApril 23, 2015 at 5:48 PM

      The film was banned in a lot of countries due to the near clinical robbery. Otherwise, it was commercially successful, spawning many sequels and imitations.

      Delete
  6. Maurice MitchellApril 20, 2015 at 7:58 PM

    What a cool movie and a child abduction would be a horrible twist. Another classic I haven't seen... Yet

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  7. AnonymousApril 20, 2015 at 9:58 PM

    I'd like to see this despite the faults. This looks like it has remake potential with better character development.

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    Replies
    1. The Armchair SquidApril 23, 2015 at 5:49 PM

      There was talk of a remake a few years back with Al Pacino in the lead.

      Delete