Le Cercle Rouge

Before I started this blog a little over a year and a half ago, I had watched a handful of movies that I didn't feel like reviewing.  Sure, it was only a week or two since I'd seen them, but as much as possible I wanted to review a flick with the flick fresh in my mind.  One movie I really wanted to review was a Netflix rental that has quickly climbed to a non-existent list of my favorite movies (okay, I have a definitive Top 5), 1970's Le Cercle Rouge or for us non-French speaking moviegoers, The Red Circle. With some leftover b-day money, I bought the pricey Criterion Collection DVD, and 18 months later after initial viewing, here's the review.

Over a three-year span, French director Jean-PierreMelville had one of the best strings of movies ever for a director starting with Le Samourai in 1967, continuing with Army of Shadows in 1969 and wrapping up with 1970's Cercle Rouge. I've yet to see a Melville film I didn't enjoy, but 'LCR' was my favorite.  It's a slower-paced heist movie that features the director's typically cool gangsters in a world where everyone looks out for themselves and anyone would turn you in if it would benefit them even a little bit.  But more than that, it is a surprisingly deep look at the criminal underworld, and the way complete strangers bond and work together in strenuous situations...in this case a jewelry heist.

In Paris, three men are about to work together for the first time on a perfectly planned jewelry heist that will net them almost $20 million francs.  There's Corey (Alain Delon), a recently released prisoner who has nothing left for him back home and vows to never return to prison. Supremely cool, calm and collected, nothing seemingly can get to him.  Second is Vogel (Gian Maria Volonte), an escaped fugitive who accidentally meets Corey, the two forming a quick friendship when they realize how similar they are.  Last there's Jansen (Yves Montand), a former cop and expert marksman struggling with a drinking problem, a man just looking for redemption and a second chance. But while these three conspire together to pull the jewelry heist, a police inspector (Andres Bourvil) investigates anything and everything he can about Vogel, wanting to catch the man who slipped through his grasp.

For fans of Melville, this is a prime example of when a director figures everything out in the moviemaking process, knowing exactly what he wants in a finished product.  He puts it together here.  His characters are loners, men of principle who even in the underworld hold honor and respect to a high degree.  The gangsters wear suits, trench coats and hats, smoke cigarettes and drink hard liquor.  There is always a cool, light jazz soundtrack playing over their actions.  They populate late night clubs and lonely, dusty apartments.  And no matter what, these guys are cool to the utmost.  It is a highly stylized, very suave and most likely idealized view of the criminal underworld, but you know what? It doesn't matter.  Melville drops you into this gangster's world, and you just go along for the ride.

We go into this world with the three men who've never worked together, and know very little about each other.  But with little to no background on Corey (what was he in prison for?) or Vogel (why was he arrested?), Melville makes these characters who would be very easy to dislike the ones you side with.  This is a performance that ranks with Le Samourai as Delon's best.  His Corey is so quietly understated you wonder if Delon is even acting or just playing himself.  In terms of pure cool, it doesn't get better than this character.  The same for Volonte as Vogel, an intense part as this mysterious crook we know nothing about.  Montand gets the most background for his character and doesn't disappoint.  Separately, all three parts are perfect, but together, they're as good as it gets in movies.  The scenes among the three are pitch perfect, each character knowing what is expected of them.  These men are professionals and they know how to get the job done.

The tour-de-force scene is an almost 30-minute extended sequence with not a word spoken as Corey, Vogel and Jansen pull off the heist.  With an obvious comparison to Jules Dassin's Rififi, Melville creates a tension that is hard to explain.  You're so geared up during the scene because any sound, any sound at all, will spell doom for this criminal trio.  The security system they're going up against features sensors, hidden locks, and a wide array of technology to deter them.  In terms of pure moviemaking skill, I don't know if Melville was ever better than he was here.  The whole heist is about as ideally laid out as a movie could do.  The whole movie is good, but that extended scene sets it apart from most.

MILD SPOILERS If you've watched any Melville movies, you'll know he's from the old school way of thinking; if your character has done something bad, he's going to have to pay for it.  Le Cercle Rouge applies in every way.  I'm not going to spoil it here, but it's certainly not a happy ending.  The police closing in as the three desperately look to get some cash out of the deal, they make a gutsy play.  It's an ending that caught me by surprise the second time around as much as the first one.  It is a surprisingly moving if downbeat ending that shows the honor and loyalty these crooks have working together.  They're partners, and that's how it is, end result be damned.

It all comes together with a fictional quote that explains the title, the red circle.  Men of a certain ilk like these criminals are destined to end up in the same place as unpleasant as it assuredly will be.  There's nothing they can to do avoid it, this is the path they've chosen.  In the end, they're going to end up together in this 'red circle.' And in the end for Melville, that's where they'll be no matter if it's far from happy. A great ending to one of my favorite movies.

Le Cercle Rouge <----French trailer (1970): ****/**** 

Bob Le Flambeur

After seeing enough of a director's movies, it's always fun to go back and see how their styles and techniques changed over the years as they became more familiar with what worked and what didn't. Having seen a handful of Jean-Pierre Melville's films, I watched Bob Le Flambeur this weekend, the director's first crack at the gangster movie with the element of a heist added in. Obviously not as polished as his later efforts, the 1956 heist gangster combo is worth a watch just to see how much Melville changed over the course of his short career.

Living in Paris, a middle-aged gambler and former gangster named Bob is on the bad end of a very unlucky streak. He leads an expensive life, all the while looking out for the well-being of those in trouble or need around him. So combine the two, bad luck and a generous spirit, and Bob is in trouble looking for a way to get back on the right track. It's through a friend and former gangster turned club owner, Roger (Andre Garet, apparently a real-life gangster), that Bob hears about the casino at Deauville. On the next Grand Prix race day, the casino will have over $800 million francs in its vault. Desperate to get back on a winning streak no matter the cost, Bob begins to organize a meticulously planned heist.

Style-wise the differences are huge comparing this movie to Melville's later gangster pics like Le Samourai or Le Cercle Rouge. Late in his career, the director refined a style built on the visual with little dialogue or music being used. So with that said, 'Bob' is a very talkative film but not too talky. Filmed in black and white, the visual element is still there with plenty of shadows and dark streets used to set the mood. And filmed on a small budget, there's a grittiness, a reality to the movie with many shots being filmed with a handheld camera.

Another big difference is in the make-up of the main character, Bob, the high-rolling gambler. Compared to Alain Delon or Lino Ventura, who were both extremely suave/cool but not always likable, Bob is downright friendly. His flaw is his gambling addiction, always ready to turn his winnings into bigger winnings. But other than that, he's a reformed gangster who lives on the up and up. He looks out for people in trouble, two people in particular, Anne (Isabelle Corey), a young woman just trying to get by in life, and Paolo (Daniel Cauchy), a young hood who so desperately wants to be respected as a gangster. While the performances from the two young actors are good if not great, it's Roger Duchesne as Bob that makes the movie work. Flaws aside, I liked this character and wanted him to get back on the winning track. I was rooting for him to pull off the heist.

Like his later movies, there's a cynicism to 'Bob' that works because it isn't forced. Things don't always go smoothly in life, and Bob has been on both sides of that. He wins thousands at a horse race, but loses it hours later in a backroom at a casino. That's why the ironic ending works so well. It builds and builds and even though you see it coming, you hope it doesn't head where it's going. Of course, it goes exactly that way. While it's not as dark as Melville's other films, it certainly qualifies as a downer.

The Criterion Collection DVD is a single disc, but more than worthwhile. The movie is shown in a fullscreen presentation that really makes the black and white cinematography come to life over 50 years later. Special features include a 22-minute interview done in 2002 with Cauchy that covers everything from the background of the movie to Melville as a director, another 20-minute radio interview with Melville completed in 1962, and a trailer to cap it all off. A good precursor for his later classics, Bob Le Flambeur is definitely worth checking out.

Bob Le Flambeur (1956): ***/****

Netflix review #12: Le Doulos

Have you ever watched a movie all the way through, it ends, and you're just confused? The questions run through your head. What happened? Who shot who? Is he alive? Was it good or bad? I'm all for ambigous endings that leaves the finale to the viewer to make up his/her mind about the movie they've just watched. I can put Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Doulos in that category.

The French master of the cool, suave gangster movie, Melville made a career out of movies about gangsters, hit men, thieves and elaborately planned heists. I haven't loved all of his movies I've seen, but each one had something worth recommending, Le Doulos included. Even not completely understanding what all the twists and turns in the movie were, I can appreciate the style, the cinematography and the two leads.

Fresh out of jail, a thief named Maurice (Serge Reggiani) is looking for revenge. He knocks off one man who's befriended him, supposedly to redeem himself for killing Maurice's girlfriend years before. Stashing a gun, hot jewelry and thousands of dollars in cash, Maurice plans a robbery that is supposed to go smoothly. Of course it doesn't, and Maurice's partner and a police lieutenant are killed in the ensuing shootout. What went wrong? Everything points to Maurice's friend, Silien (Jean Paul Belmondo), who has a reputation all around town as possibly being an informer for the police. Could he have turned in his friend? Maurice is convinced that's what happened and begins to plot more revenge.

There were a ton of twists and turns here with the big reveal coming late in the movie. Through the twists and turns, countless scenes go by but because we don't know what the character's motivation is, it's hard to comprehend what's actually going on. The reveal explains much of what we've seen, but by then I was so confused I felt like I needed to go back and watch the whole thing again.

And now to the positives. One scene in particular jumps out, an 8-minute interrogation scene with Belmondo's Sallien and a police chief. What sets it apart from any other similar scene? It's all done in one take as the camera follows the dialogue and movements of the two characters in a spacious police office. In a time when cuts in a movie aren't even perceptible to the human eye, it's nice to see a scene play out slowly and build up. The same can be said for the opening, one long tracking shot that goes on for almost 4 minutes. Le Doulos' opening made me think of a similar beginning to Melville's Army of Shadows seven years later.

By now, I've learned Melville is not content with a happy ending, and the one here really comes together in the closing minutes, lots of tension and nerves. Much of the tension is built around the relationship between Maurice and Silien, friends in the past but something doesn't feel right. Credit goes to Reggiani and Belmondo for keeping the viewer on edge. Like Maurice, we're not quite sure what's going on.

So overall, it's tough to rate this one. I enjoyed it, I think, but didn't love it. I'd probably have to go back and watch it again to see if it works thanks to the information delivered in the reveal of the actual police informer. Still, I think it's worth recommending, but know what you're getting yourself into. Like Melville's other movies, it is very stylized, very cool, but the plot is extremely difficult to follow. It's probably better to just sit back and try to enjoy the movie and don't overthink it.

Le Doulos (1962): ** 1/2 /****

Trailer

Army of Shadows

Having seen three of French director's Jean-Pierre Melville's films in recent weeks, I wanted to check out the one that's often labeled his best, a WWII French resistance movie called Army of Shadows. This isn't your typical portrayal of French resistance fighters, no gorgeous women in black berets, tight, black sweaters and red lipstick, no macho killing machines with bandoleers across their chests. These were real people with fears and worries as they went about their jobs trying to do their best to slow down the German war effort.

The movie has very little action and in style terms is very similar to the other Melville films I saw. Dialogue seems to be used as a last resort with whole scenes with only a few words spoken, instead looks are exchanged and long tracking shots of characters moving keep the story going. One painfully tense scene involves two prisoners under guard speaking in French so the German won't understand them. Hearing them, we know their desperate plan to escape, but a camera pan around the little room while waiting for the move has the scene dripping with tension. Another scene in one long shot is the Germans entering Paris in 1940. It goes on for minutes as a column and band comes into frame far off in the distance and then approaches the camera. It's only as the lead soldier is about to step on the camera the shot freezes and the opening credits roll. The shot is so simple but it looks so cool. Melville is a master at turning the simple into the supremely cool. Here's the first ten minutes.

And that's what I liked about the movie, it doesn't go for the easy story with lots of ambushes and Frenchmen gunning down hundreds of Germans. Shadows is more about the behind-the-scenes, the everyday life of the men and women of the resistance. It's a long movie at 2 hours and 25 minutes, but it moves along quickly all the way until the final, somewhat surprising cut before the credits. I guess I should have figured by now, but Melville isn't one for neat, tidy endings.

Lino Ventura is the lead here as Phillippe Gerbier, a civil engineer who escapes from the Germans after a short stay in an internment camp, not quite a concentration camp but the same idea. It's not long before he's a key member of the resistance, leading his close-knit squad of fighters. Ventura's performance is an understated but memorable one, a man who wants to get the job done whatever it may be. Paul Meurisse co-stars as Luc Jardie, the chief, the head of the resistance, an intellectual now fighting with a "carful of killers" as Gerbier says.

The rest of the team includes Jean-Francois (Jean-Pierre Cassel), a young man looking for a way to get back at the Germans, Mathilde (Simone Signoret), the lone woman in the group who is as brave as any of the men she works with, quickly building respect/admiration, Le Masque (Claude Mann), a man who at first doesn't think he'd be able to do what is required of him but becomes as integral a part as anyone, Felix (Paul Crauchet), Gerbier's right hand man, and Le Bison (Christian Barbier), the scrounger and getaway driver. Knowing very little about these characters, I still found myself sympathizing with them, a testament to Melville's ability.

The Criterion Collection DVD, only saw Disc 1, has a menu that says Army of Shadows was not released in the U.S. until 2006. Don't miss out on your chance now to see this classic. Here's the American re-release trailer.