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Rififi

★★★★★

Director: Jules Dassin
Year: 1955

This has been a recommended film to me for almost three years but I never got around to view it. Not sure what took me so long. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Love the cinematography, the use of close-ups and the wild mix of audio throughout. Especially the 30 minute heist scene with almost no audio whatsoever at the core of the film. This film has been copied so much in almost every heist film that it’s hard to appreciate the genius of what Dassin brought to the screen.

But what’s even more amazing is the background  to the film. How Dassin, an American director was called out by his peers for being a Communist, exiled to France after making his other amazing film The Naked City, and somehow getting the opportunity to direct this best-selling book. But the fact that he changed a lot from the book, cast mostly unknown actors and still managed to win Best Director at Cannes is a story in itself.

The only negative critic I could find was from one of my heroes, Jean-Luc Godard who said this was a cheap rip-off of Touchez pas au grisbi, a film made the previous year, which has also been on my list forever. Guess I’ll be the judge on that.

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