Vier im roten Kreis

Jean-Pierre Melville is one of the most slept on directors of all time. A little too old to ride the crest of the French New Wave, Melville was respected by Godard, Truffaut and the rest but never caught the attention of the international film community like those who followed him did. Melville's crime tales are directed perfectly straight forward without the hipness that permeated the French New Wave . His protagonist of choice Alain Delon had the ability to portray either cop or crook and the audience would always side with him. "The Red Circle," is one of Melville's best collaborations with Delon--not as good as "Le Samourai" (1967) but superior to "Un Flic" (1971). Nowadays cats tend to say "they don't make movies like that anymore" but "they" weren't making films like Melville during his time--over thirty years ago. Don't sleep on Melville, he's the real deal. To put it simply, Melville was and still is the man.

I saw this for the first time recently. The film moves at a slow pace but doesn't get boring. The bleak photography along with the non dialogue heist n the final scene gives the film a very serious tone. The muted heist is inspired by Rififi. The camaraderie between the two convicts, especially when one of em says that we have seen worse gives u that ominous feel. The requirement of a shooter in a heist n its reason will surprise viewers. The dream sequence is one of the most creepy n claustrophobic one.

After leaving prison, master thief Corey (Alain Delon) crosses paths with a notorious escapee and an alcoholic former policeman. The trio proceed to plot an elaborate heist.

The movie has its critics, particularly those who think it is too slow. And, indeed, even when cut down to 99 minutes and dubbed in English, critic Vincent Canby still found it to be a tad slow. Most of the film has no music, which keeps the pace slower, and there is the notorious heist scene featuring no dialogue for thirty minutes. For some, that may be intolerable.

Melville is a master, and possibly the most underrated director of his era. His name means nothing to so many people, and yet he never made a bad film. Even when relying on cliché (such as crossing a river to avoid detection), he does it with finesse.

for the story. for acting. for music. and for the wise manner to define each character. after many films from same genre in the "60'-"70', Le Cercle Rouge cold seems be part of a series. but the work of a great director, a splendid cast - the performance of Bourvil is one of the great revelations -, the care for details and the shadows of personal stories as mixture of flavors are the virtues of a thriller who remains more than memorable. a film about few people as signs of theirs worlds. about duty. and about forms of madness. all - very simple. almost like drawings of a state of soul. a film about solitude.and a splendid atmosphere.short, a film who must see. maybe, only for the delicacy to expose delicate things who define each of us.

Everyone likes the coolly created, memorable heist movie. Alain Delon provides the antihero, Melville provides the cool, and a handful of other great talent (Yves Montand, Gian Maria Volonte, and Andre Bourvil, mostly) arrives to add a crisp engaging movie...

...with very little dialog. This is great, because one certain aspect of the genre tends to be a lot of dialog involving the quick-witted and their various repartees. This movie, however, could be watched with the sound completely off and not too terribly much would be missed. Not to say the sound is bad, oh no, the jazzy soundtrack and the crisp audio catching the little movements makes the slow, patient deliberation of the patients very compelling.

What's also really neat about this film is that the color cinematography is pretty fantastic. Usually when it comes to cinematography, black and white movies tend to stick out in my mind, but this film has some very strong and beautiful imagery that makes the movie pure visual pleasure to observe.

--PolarisDiB