Rating: 
Summary: Influential, leftist heist movie.
Review: Director Jules Dassin was one of many film-makers blacklisted during the McCarthy purges of the early 1950s, and he made 'Rififi' while in European exile. This explains why a work which on the surface is simply another crime movie exerts such a charge. It is most famous for a 25-minute silent sequence detailing the elaborate unfolding of a jewel robbery. Unlike 'The Asphalt Jungle', which is often considered the first heist movie, this sequence is not primarily interested in revealing character or in proving some abstract theory about chance, destiny or human failure. It is 25 minutes of men working, as if they were welding or working a factory machine. Even the generic elements that glamoriese this work - suspense, tension, human error, character antagonism etc. - aren't as important as they are in the later nerve-wracking plot involving child abduction, extortion and murder. This patient sequence privileges the dignity of labour, the reality of men (and it is men. Women get beaten up or wail hysterically) doing a job. In Dassin's world it is not a conflict between robbers and cops, but between workers and informers, those who would try to indolently profit from the toil of others, just as film-makers in Hollywood ratted on their colleagues to save their professional skins. there is an element of wish-fulfilment in Dassin's portrait and treatment of informers in 'Rififi' - in reality, they were making millions and winning shedloads of Oscars.'Rififi' was an immensely influential thriller, especially in France - the concentration on the mechanics, rather than the psychology or sociology of crime allowed for greater formalism in the genre. The influence on Melville is especially apparent, and 'Rififi''s creator, Auguste le Breton, would write the screenplay for Melville's first gangster film 'Bob le Flambeur'. Especially in its final third, 'Rififi' is very exciting. Dassin doesn't try to impose any bogus sentimentality on his flawed characters (the ex-con hero is a vicious, melancholy invalid who flogs his faithless mistress). There are relatively few visual flourishes in a film of conventional set-ups - some excellent carnivalesque scenes in the attic of a night-club, where masks and gurning props look on at the crime capers (anticipating TV's 'The Avengers'); the terrifying, near-Expressionist point-of-view watching trees and roads of a dying motorist. My French friends assure me 'Rififi' is a wonderful portrait of the old Paris since destroyed by modernism and post-'68 political paranoia. For all its quality, however, and in spite of Le Breton's reputation for injecting a local authenticity into the genre, 'Rififi' doesn't feel like a genuine French noir, more like a transposed American one. There is little of the atmosphere or sensitivity of location you get in Becker or Melville, little of the narrative ambiguity, local resonances or stylistic depth. After you have enjoyed this, I would recommend you try 'Grisbi' or 'Bob le Flambeur' to see what the French can really do with the genre.
Rating: 
Summary: Incredible
Review: Fantastic, ironic, and beautiful. The cinematography, story and characters make this a great dvd. Perfect for lovers of crime films and foreign films.
Rating:
Summary: *Rififi* means Trouble!
Review: French interpretation of classic 40's American film noirs. (The gang of criminals plan a heist while drinking cafe au lait instead of bourbon.) Particularly reminiscent of *The Asphalt Jungle*, though any number of the Humphrey Bogart movies of the 40's also come to mind. Unfortunately, *Rififi* also borrows some of the moralizing from the American versions: the wife of one of the gang -- Jo the Swede -- tells him basically that the REAL tough guys are the guys who live cleanly. Et cetera. Also present is the hard-bitten "toughness", usually involving a woman getting slapped around a bit (though *Rififi* takes this to a startling extreme in one scene in which the putatuve HERO of the piece strips his ex-moll naked and scars her!). Oh, and the cynicism's remained intact, too: the aforesaid moll tells the hero, Tony le Stephanois, that as far as her new boyfriend Grutter is concerned, "If it hadn't been him, it would've been someone else." So much for amour! But what *Rififi* has in wonderful excess that many American noirs frankly don't have is nail-biting suspense. Which leads us to the virtuoso centerpiece of the movie: the 30-minute heist sequence, filmed without dialogue or music. This scene is truly an achievement for the ages. It has been imitated thousands of times, but only a handful of those imitations have remotely approached it, and none have dared to do it in utter silence. The best bit of business involves an umbrella: it's poked through a hole in the floor and then opened in order to catch the falling debris while someone else carefully enlargens the hole with a pick and hammer. Ingenious! I give *Rififi* 4 stars instead of 5 because of the derivative quality of the film that I indicated earlier: there's a "been there, done that" feel to the thing. Even the wardrobe is 10 years out of date (lots of 40's-style pinstripes). When this was made in the mid-50's, other directors -- most notably Robert Aldrich with his 1955 masterpiece *Kiss Me Deadly* -- were finding new ways to do noir. *Rififi*, despite its upgraded dirty language and brutality, seems rather like a throwback. As does the torch-song in the nightclub near the movie's mid-point, featuring a silhouetted figure miming the action in the song's lyrics (but what did I expect? we're in FRANCE, after all. At any rate, the "skip" button on the remote will come in handy for future re-viewings). But these minor issues don't really detract from the movie's overall excellence.
Rating: 
Summary: Fabulous Movie (5 stars) - Terrible Sub-Titles (1 *)
Review: I counted 8 instances where the sub-titles flashed on screen for less than a second making them impossible to read. There may have been more that I missed, it happens that quickly. It really ruined my enjoyment of the film - I was constantly waiting for another glitch. The movie, however, is fabulous. The one that spawned all the great heist scenes. Get Criterion to clean up their act, then its a must buy. Beautiful cinematography of 50's Paris. I expect better from Criterion - they charge enough.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful film; no subtitle problems either
Review: I'm really only writing this review to inform people that I believe the subtitle problem the previous reviewer had is not typical. I had no such problems....Otherwise, great film, buy it....
Rating: 
Summary: Needs Editing
Review: I'm sure film school buffs, Tarrentino too, thought this movie great simply becaue it cost so little. Isn't that every film student's dream: make a movie for peanuts and get famous. This movie is the first heist flick and it is influential. The burglery is clever and without special effects, so I applaud the simplicity, but this film needs editing. It is too long. There's a half hour of baloney to remove to tighten this baby up. Jules Dassin should know better and he gets a lot of credit because he's on the Black List? You see, the Black List is the lightning rod for the Left, very emotional. Hey, if you're trying to destroy democracy and capitalism in the richest, most succesful country ever, am I supposed to send you roses? My favorite scene -- the kid crawling all over the convertable 54 Oldsmobile laughing his head off while Tony is bleeding to death. It makes no sense, but its so French New Wave.
Rating:
Summary: instructional video only
Review: if you're intested in learning how to play golf, there are videos for that..or to learn how to build a swing set, I'm sure you can find one ..or in this case, if you want to know how to rob a jewelry store, rififi serves it's purpose..there is nothing more here than that...just a bunch of unattractive crooks doing their thing..stick to 'night and the city' with richard widmark or 'theives' highway' with richard conte if you want to see the energy in dassin's noir..and as far as the sound being off for 30 minutes, it's a relief not to hear these goons talk...(p.s.)there is a 30 minute interview with dassin on this dvd that's 10x more interesting than the film.
Rating:
Summary: New Printing Sees a Perfect Transfer
Review: In an earlier review, I criticised the sound synchronisation - well, Criterion have rectified this problem in the current second printing. This information can be found at Criterion's revamped website, Criterionco.com, which is now very informative - there is a page devoted to known problems, and a page where you can alert them to any new problems you find; also you can ask general questions.
*
Technically, now, this film transfer is outstanding - the picture is superbly clear, better in fact than a restored print recently screened in Sydney.
*
For me, the film itself gets better with each viewing. Kind of amazing considering this is overtly a suspense thriller, where not knowing the outcome should be crucial - perhaps this reveals that it is more a character study, particularly a rumination on a character accepting his fate, a fate portrayed as virtually predestined. Also there is a sense that Dassin delights in the making of this picture - his performance as Cesare the Milanese is similarly brimming with enthusiastic charm. The production design by Alexandre Trauner (Les Enfants du Paradis) is another factor in allowing enjoyment to grow with each viewing - the film looks wonderful. There's a sense that each carefully considered part of the film is necessary, and that to change any would be to the detriment of the film as a whole - a little like the feeling inspired by a great musical symphony; possibly it's a little ironic then that the one questionable element is the title song! In the notes, Dassin is said to have rued his dismissal of an alternative, and at the time largely unknown, songwriter - Charles Aznavour!
*
It is also amazing to think that for decades this film was rarely available for public screening and not obtainable on video. It deserves to be seen by everyone with a love of cinema. A truly great film.
Rating:
Summary: oui oui noir
Review: In my opinion, one of the five best noir films ever made. If you haven't seen it, rent this one now. Without question, you'll recognize lots of things from this film which have since been used in much lesser movies. Not just a French classic, but a top film of the noir genre.
Rating:
Summary: MASTERPIECE
Review: Jules Dassin does have a seat of choice in the gallery of Movie History. The movies he directed in Hollywood in the late forties are now classics and his courage under the Mc Carthy era demands our utmost respect. Exiled in France, he directed RIFIFI aka " Du Rififi Chez Les Hommes " in 1954 based on a Série Noire novel of Auguste le Breton. And it's simply one of the best films noirs ever made. Jean Servais is perfect as a french Bogart marked by tuberculosis, Robert Hossein, in his first role, terrifying as a drug addict tougher than George Raft and Jules Dassin himself, in the role of an italian bad guy, very convincing. Add a wonderful singing act of Magali Noël, the french starlet of the sixties, the great Alexandre - The Children of Paradise - Trauner as art director and the 30 minutes anthology scene, without musical score nor dialogs, of the robbery and you have a movie you can't neglect if you are a true movie lover. The copy presented in this Criterion DVD release is definitive and the 25 minutes interview with Jules Dassin a bonus feature very appreciated. There is also the choice between the french subtitled version and a dubbed version for the lazy ones. How can you still hesitate ! Go, buy and be happy. A DVD zone your library.
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