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Rififi - Criterion Collection | 
 enlarge | Director: Jules Dassin
Actors: Jacques Besnard, Janine Darcey, Jacques David, Alice Garan, Pierre Grasset
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $21.10
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New (34) Used (14) Collectible (2) from $16.00
Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 22995
Format: Black & White, Color, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Pan & Scan
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 122 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5 x 0.6
MPN: PMIDRIF020D
ISBN: 078002396X
UPC: 037429155622
EAN: 9780780023963
ASIN: B00005A8TX
Theatrical Release Date: June 5, 1956
Release Date: April 24, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
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Product Description
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 04/24/2001 Run time: 118 minutes
Amazon.com essential video
Hollywood's loss was Europe's gain when Jules Dassin fled America because of the House Un-American Activities Committee blacklist at the end of the 1940s. His films helped bring the moral ambiguity of the postwar American thriller to Europe, inspiring a new generation of critics and filmmakers. Writing several years before he made The 400 Blows, François Truffaut praised Dassin for the way his films "combin[ed] the documentary approach with lyricism," a method that would inform many of the new wave films of the '60s. Rififi, shot on the rainy streets of Paris, is imbued with the same gritty realism that marked Dassin's earlier work in New York (The Naked City) and London (Night and the City). Jean Servais plays Tony le Stéphanois, an aging crook whose thin lips and tired, seen-it-all eyes give him a look somewhere between Humphrey Bogart and Harry Dean Stanton. Out of jail after a five-year stretch, he joins up with a couple of pals to pull one last heist: a jewel robbery that is portrayed in such detail (including tips on how to silence an alarm using a fire extinguisher) that the film was banned in several countries. The robbery sequence alone, which lasts for 30 minutes and is played entirely without dialogue, would be enough to ensure Rififi's classic status, but there's a lot more to enjoy, including terrific performances from Marie Sabouret as Tony's world-weary ex-girlfriend, and from Dassin himself as a dandified Italian safecracker with an eye for the ladies. After the thrill of the heist, in the film's final scenes when, with the inevitability of the best films noirs everything falls apart, Dassin achieves the lyricism that Truffaut admired so much. By combining the conventions of a caper movie with his own brand of bleak nihilism, he made Rififi into a film that deserves to be counted among the best ever made.--Simon Leake
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| Customer Reviews: Read 47 more reviews...
 Hardly a classic September 20, 2008
C.A. Arthur (Tacoma, Washington)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
If Dassen's political views had been, say, right wing, would any of the "fillum" critics pay much attention to this at times interesting, overly long, and painfully melodramatic gangster movie? If the film hadn't featured barely clothed women, would it have been praised at the time? I feel sorry for the "film studies" students who must endure this movie and write silly, politically correct essays on its "message." And if one of them dares writes "The Wages Of Sin Are Death" a failing grade is perhaps in his or her future. In short, this is tedious viewing, strictly for those wishing to appear oh-so-sophisticated. I'll take any number of Edward G. Robinson films, some made more than twenty years before this "pathbreaking" French movie.
 Rififi September 13, 2008
JeffreyJGH (USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In director Jules Dassin's "Rififi," Tony Stephanois has been released after spending five years in the slammer for a crime he didn't commit. Instead he took the rap for a friend, a kid brother type of guy. Now he is ready to take up with his lady, though she rejects him, preferring to stay with her new nightclub-owning boyfriend.
Dejected, Tony accepts his friends' offer to pull a jewelry heist. And that's where the fun begins: whether it is the now famous "silent" jewelry heist .... or the chilling confrontations at a empty, cavernous house on Paris's outskirts .... or the wild, nail-biting car ride at the end! And all the while, love is what trips these guys up, love for a sweetheart, love for a son. Absolutely bone-headed decisions are made based on emotion.
World-weary Jean Servais plays ex-con Tony. Every crag on his thin, gaunt face makes him appear one step closer to death. Like Jean-Pierre Melville's characters, he is a thief with honor: you break the code, then that's the end. Robert Manuel plays thief Mario Ferrati. The happy, expressive Mario steals almost every scene he's in. Manuel's supporting performance is the perfect counterweight to Servais's gravitas.
I should note that Paris looks great. Dassin makes you feel the cool, wet streets, the damp, cloudy days where the skeletal trees in one scene reach to dizzying heights and you can almost feel the breeze on your face. A perfect movie in every way!
 A Rumble Among the Boys June 16, 2008
Acute Observer (Jersey Shore)
This 1955 film was a sensation because of its unsentimental realism that differed from films of the 1940s. It begins with a gambling game. Tony from Stéphane is short of funds, and asks for help. They drive a 1940s Ford in Paris. Another man shows up with a plan to burglarize a jewelry store. But Tony is too old and slow to run fast. Tony visits a nightclub to find Mado, an old girl friend. The conversation reveals their character and relationship. Then Tony decides he needs to earn money and make a big score. A long distance telephone call takes scheduling. Mario drives a Buick. Conspicuous consumption? After meeting at the nightclub they contact a fence in London.
They take great care by studying the jewelry store for their big job. They create a key for a door. Cesar knows how to case the joint and they study the alarm. It's the latest technology, designed to go off if a wire is cut or there is any vibration. Tony gets an idea about using a fire extinguisher! A simple idea defeats high technology. The next night the job is on. Tony steals a car. Note how the French store has a concierge on the premises. The thieves go about breaking in through the ceiling. They open an umbrella indoors. Tony descends to silence the alarm. The safe is carefully tipped over to drill into the back and cut a hole to reach inside. Cesar takes a souvenir. Two gendarmes find the stolen car and call it in. There's always the unexpected. But their getaway succeeds and plan to fence the jewels in London (a comment on the financial center of the world).
Cesar disobeys his orders and hooks up with that nightclub singer. He gives her a clue. Pierre discovers this and decides to take over. Ida and Mario are captured and forced to talk, but they don't betray Tony. Now Tony is out for revenge on the Grutters. He finds Cesar and reminds him of the rules of the game. The Police Inspector watches over the funeral procession. The Grutters take steps to obtain the stolen loot. Tony will hunt the Grutters by contacting his fellow crooks. Someone tells Tony where they are. The tension builds. Then a messenger is sent to Remy and Tony follows him for a final showdown. I won't give away the ending on this old film, but justice is served, the guilty are punished.
Do parts of this film remind you of "The Asphalt Jungle"? Note how costs are kept down with a small cast and limited scenes. The long silence during the burglary reduces the costs of dubbing in another language. Tony was the first man into the store, but not the last man out. This resulted in the fatal flaw. But there could have been a squabble over the loot. There's more to go around when there are fewer shares. Or a gangster could have figured out that Tony was a jewel thief. In real life the Paris police would have rounded up all known jewel thieves and questioned them on their alibi. Why did the London fence carry a small fortune without guards? The biggest flaw in this film is the indoor alarm; they are placed outdoors and high off the ground. The presence of an innocent child adds irony to this story.
Practical manual on how to crack a bank safe May 25, 2008
Tim Mouradian (North Shore, MA United States)
This is a typical French movie, which means that it lives up to the expectation that all major protagonists will die as story unfolds, with all fruits of their short cinematographic existence being lost while in the process of said dying.
This is hardly surprising as French contributed a great deal to existentialism with Jean-Paul Sartre declaring that "All human actions are equivalent and all are on principle doomed to failure" back in 1940's. How true. Of course later on Sartre developed this further with "L'enfer, c'est les autres" which is often translated as "Hell is other peoples pretentious movies", which is also very true.
"Rififi" is one of the better French movies and the single reason for that is the absolutely amazing scene of a jewelry store heist. It is quite long, shot in a documentary style and completely lacks any audio accommodations. Towards the end of it one feels as being part of the crew that just pulled it off.
I don't believe the director intended to, but the movie is quite educational in potentially penitentiary aspects - I didn't expect to learn how to crack open a bank safe when I set out watching this story, but now I feel I could do that if needed, not that I ever intent to.
A minor technical point is that audio seems to be may be 1 sec or so behind, this could be a DVD transfer issue.
Rated 4/5, as a must have classic that will be watched once and promptly forgotten afterwards.
Good Suspense February 25, 2008
Randy Keehn (Williston, ND United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Although this movie showed up on a lot of recommended lists, it still surprized me how good a movie it is. This is a movie that fits in with some of the best gangster movies of American Cinema in the 1940's and 50's. The characters are interesting in a compelling way although the main character starts off on the wrong foot for most audiences. There is a crime that is planned and executed in suspenseful and interesting detail. There are the real bad guys that are pretty unappealing (compared to our "good" bad guys with their humane and humorous qualities). Plots within the plot keeps us off balance and helps intensify the suspense. The ending may not be the one we'd like but it is an impressive ending nonetheless.
I've seen a number of highly rated movies that left me under-whelmed with appreciation. However, "Rififi" is a movie that I'm glad I had the opportunity to watch.
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