Le cercle rouge

On the eve of his release after five years imprisoned, the thief Corey (Alain Delon) is contacted by one guard of the prison that offers him a jewelry heist. However Corey seeks out his former boss Rico (André Ekyan) and steals money from him. Rico sends two gangsters to hunt Corey down and retrieve the stolen amount. Meanwhile the criminal Vogel (Gian- Maria Volonte) is transported by train by the Police Officer Mattei (André Bourvil) and succeeds to escape. Corey drives from Marseille to Paris and Vogel hides in the trunk of his car. Corey finds him but does not object to ride Vogel to Paris hidden in the trunk. When the gangsters sent by Rico cut in Corey's car, Vogel saves him from the criminals, but Corey loses the money. Without money, Corey decides to heist the jewelry with Vogel and invites the former police detective Jansen (Yves Montand) to team-up with them. The trio executes a perfect heist but Rico is seeking revenge and Mattei is an unethical but efficient police officer capable to use any means to resolve the case.

"Le cercle rouge" is another great heist movie by the French director Jean-Pierre Melville, one of the best in the genre crime and thriller. The thin line between the behavior of police members and criminals is impressively realistic. The scenes are very detailed and there are long sequences in absolute silence along 140 minutes running time but the movie is developed in an adequate pace and is never boring. The dream cast with Alain Delon, Gian-Maria Volonte and Yves Montand among others makes this movie totally believable. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Circulo Vermelho" ("The Red Circle")

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.

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.

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