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MovieMail's Review
Jules Dassin's RIFIFI remains the quintessential heist movie and is regarded as one of the greatest crime movies ever made. It has been hailed as the inspiration behind such modern classics as “The Usual Suspects”, “Reservoir Dogs” and “Heat”.
Recently released from a five-year stint in prison, respected Parisian criminal Tony, returns to life on the outside only to discover his girlfriend Mado has sold off their home and taken up with a rival gangster. Penniless and with nothing left to lose Tony agrees to assist his former partners in crime, Mario and Jo the Swede, with one last job, on the condition that they change their plans from a quick smash-and-grab on a jewellery store and go for the big score. However, a gang member’s weakness for women soon proves to be the friends undoing and the sighting of a ring from the heist attracts the unwanted attention of a rival gangster.
Among RIFIFI's many highlights is the film's engrossing and breathtaking dialogue-free heist sequence, so meticulously constructed and detailed that Paris police briefly banned the film fearing it could instruct would-be criminals, which in itself amounts to a virtual movie master-class in cinematic suspense.
High Definition transfer of the film from a brand new restoration on Blu-ray (1080p) and DVD
Filmed introduction by Ginette Vincendeau, French cinema critic, scholar and author
Interview with Jules Dassin
Q&A with Jules Dassin at the BFI Southbank, London
Original Theatrical Trailer
A comprehensive booklet featuring brand new writing on the film by writer and filmmaker David Cairns, author Alastair Phillips (Rififi: French Film Guide), Francois Truffaut and John Trevelyan
Artwork presentation packaging including three original posters and a newly commissioned artwork cover
Film Description
Jules Dassin's classic French film noir, acknowledged as the inspiration for many modern-day crime capers and famous for its central, wordless half-hour robbery sequence, Rififi stars Jean Servais as master thief Tony le Stephanois. Recently released from jail, the aging Tony is reluctant to return to a life of crime - but when he discovers that his girlfriend has thrown him over for a rival gangster, he agrees to attempt one last job.
Together with three collaborators - young father Jo, boisterous Franco-Italian Mario and sentimental Milanese safecracker Cesar (played by the director under the pseudonym of Perlo Vita) - Tony meticulously engineers his biggest heist yet: robbing the most heavily guarded jeweller in Paris. But when a rival gangster, Pierre Gruter, finds out about their haul, he stakes a claim to a cut of the take in a most persuasive manner.
It doesn’t date an iota – and, in fact, Dassin’s Du Rififi Chez les Hommes makes Guy Ritchie and co. look like small beer indeed. Acknowledged as the forerunner of (an... more >
It doesn’t date an iota – and, in fact, Dassin’s Du Rififi Chez les Hommes makes Guy Ritchie and co. look like small beer indeed. Acknowledged as the forerunner of (and the inspiration behind) many modern day crime capers (including The Usual Suspects and Reservoir Dogs) Jules Dassin's French noir classic remains the quintessential heist movie; this DVD is fully restored with the original French dialogue (anyone who’s suffered the dubbed horror that has circulated in the past will be grateful for that).
