Le casse

"Le Casse" is a simple, straightforward story about a crook named Azad (Jean Paul Belmondo), whose gang stole emeralds worth $1 million. While waiting for their boat to leave Athens, they hid the jewels, and try to escape from the schemes of a unscrupulous cop, Zacharias (Omar Sharif).

This movie is another example of the brilliant collaboration between the underrated Henri Verneuil ("Un singe en hiver", "100,000 dollars au soleil", "Peur sur la ville") and Belmondo. They share an honest love for such movie treats as car chases, evil bad guys, anti-heroes, slight eroticism, exotic food, humor and Bond-like misogyny. Which this movie contains galore. And it's also one of the first times when Belmondo performs his famous stunts, without any wires or stunt doubles. One scene in particular shows the "hero" being hidden in a dump-truck, which discharge its payload (including Belmondo) on a slope going down to a mine. You can actually see Belmondo stumble down the slope among debris and rocks and once down the slope stand up, dust off his trousers and walk away. In a single shot. Like Jackie Chan or Colt Seavers. And the movie contains a lot of great 70's milestones, like an almost silent intro showing the theft of the emeralds, or a spectacular car chase in the streets of Athens.

All in all, a very entertaining piece of 70's French cinema.

The first adaptation of David Goodis' novel 'The Burglar', directed by Paul Wendkos, is well shot and gritty but marred by the pretentious dialogue of the author's own screenplay.

As a complete contrast, in this later version from Henri Verneuil, glitz replaces grit and Vahé Katcha's dialogue is infinitely more prosaic.

Verneuil and Jean-Paul Belmondo had made their first film together in 1962 and nine years later they are on their fourth. It is essentially a comic book treatment which enables its star to do what his legion of fans adore which is to perform well choreographed, daredevil stunts and beat people up whilst keeping his tongue firmly in his cheek. We also have an obligatory girlie show and a car chase that goes on and on and on.......

The most interesting feature here is the dynamic between Belmondo as the thief and Omar Sharif as the crooked cop. Sharif invests a nasty piece of work with his immense charm and his French is impeccable.

Although technically proficient, this mucho macho nonsense is now very much a period piece which has not dated well and reminds us that Verneuil was the most American of French directors. American cinema basically fulfills the need to be distracted and here Verneuil has delivered two hours of total distraction.

Whether this film was intended as a caper movie or a parody of a caper movie is its chief mystery. Jean-Paul Belmondo plays a super-cool jewel thief bedeviled by Omar Sharif, a super-cool detective. Dyan Cannon, a centerfold model, shows up whenever the improbable script gropes for sexual intrigue. Although based on a novel by David Goodis, a far superior movie was written by the novelist and directed by Paul Wendkos: "The Burglar" (1957), starring Dan Duryea and Jayne Mansfield. Henri Verneuil's version begins, not with character, but with the tiresome employment of what appears to be a Professional Safe-Cracker Tool Kit, from Home Depot. The chase scene seems even more artificial when relevant issues, like who is chasing whom and for what purpose are not revealed. It's typical of the brittle nature of the whole project that much time is spent on what's for dinner and stunts, which must be worked out with such balletic precision, that they seem entirely inorganic to the thin plot. The sadistic homoerotic gun teasing scenes are no fun. At least, we do get a strip-tease from beautiful Pamela Stanford. Oo-la-la! Mercifully, David Goodis, whose intriguing themes are tossed aside in a couple of weak lines, died before this version was born.

Great car chase sequence (which like everyone said has NOTHING to do with the plot of the movie--it mostly just introduces the idea that Omar Shariff is a bad ass as well.) Movie is good escapist entertainment---Bellmondo steals a bunch of emeralds from the safe of some dude's house in a Greek island and said dude hires Shariff (who is a cop) to bring them emeralds on home. A lot of alternating scenes of smooth talking between the two and chasing follow--somehow Dyan Cannon as a visiting American model enters the plot as a potential ally for Bellmondo---even tho her role makes very little sense, its still totally worth it for one sequence in which Bellmondo slaps her silly and those slaps turn on and turn off the lights in her apt--(her apt apparently was an early beta tester of The Clapper! its very very funny and got a huge laugh from the audience who actually came out to see a re-screening of this the other week.) Very enjoyable movie overall--but far from perfect--but who the hell needs perfection when you have that car chase and a drunken Omar Shariff right? seriously that was a legitimate question!

This film is sadly underrated (as is Charles Bronson's "Red Sun") for the fun it provides. Its an old-fashioned adventure story of a corrupt cop (Sharif) in a cat and mouse game with a gang of burglars led by Belmondo with a cache of emeralds as the prize. Its beautifully shot in widescreen and the music by Morricone is awesome. A great car chase is a bonus. What else do you want for 2 hours? Good laconic perf by Belmondo. Sharif as the vicious bent cop is good as well. Dont look for deep characterization; Verneuil's goal is the keep the story moving. The widescreen (2.35) ratio of this film requires a letterbox video treatment. Unluckily for us fans it may be a long wait before we see such a treatment.