Bob le flambeur

It just doesn't get much better than this. Visually, this is one of the most stunning and sumptuous feasts your eyes will ever experience. From the early-morning streets of Paris to apartments, nightclubs and bars, Melville captures a moment for all eternity. It doesn't hurt either that the acting is great and the leading lady is beautiful. Simply stated, this is one of the most enjoyable movie experiences one can have.

If I wanted to get all analytical, I might write about the way Melville has taken the conventions of the American gangster movie and humanized them by populating his movie with sympathetic, emotionally-rich characters. But what really matters, in the end, is that this movie is enormously fun and should not be missed.

This is such a great movie, that does about everything right. It's an early French crime caper movie, that obviously helped to set the standards for later movies.

It's not like there weren't any movies like this prior to this movie but this is one that has all of the modern genre element type of ingredients in it, that we can still see back in todays movies. It perhaps makes this movie seem as a bit of a formulaic and generic one by todays standards but in the light of when this movie got made, it surely is a greatly original one. And it still really is one that is among the best, regardless of the fact that you probably have seen all of the elements in this movie being handled in later ones and better known ones as well.

It has a great story with some equally great characters in it. It's a very rich movie that also manages to capture the right tone, thanks to some fine directing. It has lots of typical crime elements in it, such as an heist, likable 'bad guys' and the cat and mouse game between them and the police.

It really is a fine made movie, that got directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. The movie has a good look over it, as well as a nice steady pace. The scene's are being build up great and the entire story gets told effectively. It's a great 'how-to' on directing and storytelling. It feels really like a Hollywoodized version of a French movie but in this case that's a good thing. It's also why this also helped to influence movies from Hollywood as well.

No reason why to not like this movie.

9/10

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Absent of the stylization of "Le Samurai" and not as gritty or violent as crime thrillers of the 60's, "Bob the Gambler", from Jean Pier Melville, is none the less an important film historically for it's influence on the crime genre, heist films specifically. However, how does it hold up as a film?

Certainly there is sufficient build up to the heist. We see every step of the planning, with plenty of twists and turns leading up to it, and once things get started, the suspense is certainly there, though without giving anything away, the suspense doesn't come the way one would expect it to, but the tension is definitely there. There is violence, though not a whole lot, and it's obscured, so don't expect much in the way of high octane gun action.

While the sections of the film dealing with the heist itself, the planning, build up and execution would all be enough to make this a fine film, what elevates it even more is the characterization. Bob is a a retired criminal, who all ready served twenty years in prison. Now friends with a cop and living seemingly straight, he's none the less prone to gambling and losing. He takes a father like role to Paulo, who aspires to be like him, and takes a liking to a young woman, Anne. He's seemingly a good person, willing to help others whenever he can. However, when he loses most of his fortune on a foolish bet, he gets a team together for a grand scale heist. This film is about more than a heist, it's about a flawed man whose vices will ensure he is never completely on the straight and narrow. Paulo also falls prey to his desire to win over and impress Anne, at any cost. The highlight of the film for me is the characters, fully realized and done justice by fantastic performances from everyone involved. I won't spoil the ending, but it's one of those endings that makes you completely rethink your earlier perceptions.

Cinematography, while not as amazing as "Le Samurai", is still something to appreciate, with clear influences from American crime and noir films.

SHould be approached as more of a crime drama than a full out, action packed heist film. Definitely recommended.

Coming a few years before Jean-Pierre Melville's ongoing obsession with trenchcoats and fedoras, Bob Le Flambeur is probably his most traditional noir flick, centered around the titular Bob (played by Roger Duchesne), an aging gangster who decides to go in for one final gamble by robbing a local casino. He recruits a small group of partners to come in with him, but the arrival of the beautiful young Anne (played with compelling charm by Isabelle Corey) throws a rift in the dynamic of the group and we all know how a girl can bring the downfall of a great many men.

It's all relatively standard procedure, but it's interesting to see Melville developing what would eventually become his trademark style. The film doesn't have the unbelievably slick style of Le Samourai or the brooding grit of Le Doulos, but at times you can see pieces of each and it's all built around an interesting central figure. Bob is a man who we never get the chance to fully explore, but it's that stoicism, that mystery, that makes him all the more engaging. Duchesne plays him with a haunted, world-worn reserve that reminded me of the kind of stuff that George Clooney has been doing for the last five years or so. Bob Le Flambeur ends up being a character study more than anything else, which made me kind of curious as to why Bob essentially takes a backseat to the supporting characters for the middle stretch of the film.

After the first act establishes him he almost disappears and we instead focus a lot more on the cops and Bob's young protégé Paolo (Daniel Cauchy). It was a disappointing turn, made all the more so by how interesting things got once we returned full-on to Bob in the final act. It's a diversion that's easy to understand in order to bring about the conflicts that drive the overall narrative, but it made me wish that we had been focusing on him entirely the whole time. Still, it's an ultimately minor complaint in an otherwise solid, if not overly impressive Melville entry. The film features an excellent ending as well, closing out on a high point.

Imagine a movie in which a gambler finds out about a huge payday at a casino and decides to pull off a major heist. He and a couple of friends find a rich backer to put up the money necessary to pull such a large heist and then Bob (the gambler) decides to enlist some others to help out. In the end, he has involved not 9, not 10, but 11 people in the heist. Sound familiar. This hugely influential film by Jean-Pierre Melville has spawned both versions of Ocean's 11 and is also often credited as the grandfather of the Nouvelle Vague movement.

This movie is French, so unlike the American versions of Ocean's Eleven, there is no singing, no laughing, no hi-fiving, just straight-faced gambling, plotting and even the loving is grim and made without a smile. The characters are memorable, especially Bob and Anne as they go through life expecting no happiness. Bob never goes to bed before 6am, as he spends his nights, every night, gambling at different locations. This addiction is part of who he is and plays a key role in the twist at the end.

This movie is like a good strong Camembert. As with many French movies, definitely an acquired taste, but once one learns to appreciate the sharpness, one realizes that there is nothing comparable. Camembert, unlike bacon, is not the food of joy. But it is good, flavorful, and powerful in making one want to partake again and again. Until you feel the tanginess in your mouth, there is no describing the taste or effect, but it is definitely worth the effort to build an appreciation for it. 8/10