Stark. Silky. Smoky. Smooth. Almost purely visual — always the best way to go! Blacklisted filmmaker Jules Dassin’s 1955 French crime film Rififi is a masterpiece of pure cinema, a striking example of form complimenting narrative, with not one wasted moment or superfluous scene. This elegant caper film revolves around four criminals who pull off a daring heist, with the centerpiece theft comprising of nearly 30 minutes of screen time, and unfolding in a virtually silent fash…ion. I love all of the details that Dassin lays out for the viewer, as the script is terse and rigid, totally befitting the hard-edged nature of the entire piece. Jean Servais, Robert Manuel, Carl Mohner, and Jules Dassin himself were all terrific as the gangsters, and Philippe Agostini’s cinematography is worthy of study by all young camerapersons. Dassin would win Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival for his work on this film, which still stands to this day as one of the absolute best French noirs to ever get produced (or at least that I’ve seen). There was talk roughly a decade ago about Harold Becker directing a remake from a Bo Goldman script that would have starred Al Pacino; I’m glad this notion came to pass. This is one of those films that should NEVER be remade, no matter how good the intentions might be. There’s no doubt that this movie had to inspire Michael Mann when crafting his epic crime thrillers Thief and Heat.
Podcasting Them Softly 