Rating: 
Summary: Be careful!
Review: Just watched Rififi on DVD from a local rental house prior to buying a copy. Guess what! The whole damn thing is out of sync by 1/2 second. Didn't even notice until they started using the hammers in the heist. Went back through it... everything! gunshots et.al. Check your copy!
Rating: 
Summary: No holds barred!
Review: Never heard of this flick and don't like foreign subtitles? Forget all that rubbish and buy this flat out great gangster film. Before you do, offer a prayer of thanks to Criterion for providing us with a gorgeous digital transfer, and an informative and entertaing interview with the 89 year old director Jules Dassin. This film is a monster, and if you ain't seen it, there's no excuses, now that you've heard it from me and the other lucky viewers. A simple story with tension, twists and the right ending, this film is worthy of repeat viewings. A winner from Dassin and Criterion!
Rating:
Summary: Instead of
Review: reading the re-hashes of the plot below (so many people still don't understand what "review" means), and the one person who dubbed it "Boring" (find another past time, OK?), check out the reviews that really talk about this film, and then treat yurself and buy it. YOu won't be disappointed. It's a true classic.
Rating:
Summary: Instead of
Review: reading the re-hashes of the plot below (so many people still don't understand what "review" means), and the one person who dubbed it "Boring" (find another past time, OK?), check out the reviews that really talk about this film, and then treat yurself and buy it. YOu won't be disappointed. It's a true classic.
Rating:
Summary: Copied by many, but never bettered
Review: Rififi is the classic French gangster film. The plot is simple four criminals plan and carry out the robbery of a Paris jewelery store. They get away with the jewels and convert them into cash via a fence in London. Then things start to go wrong as a rival gangster decides to part them from their ill gotten gains. It is a story copied many times, however what sets this film apart is the Paris it portrays. This is not the Paris the tourist sees. This is a black and white fifties Paris where it is cold, wet and grey. All the characters except for the wife of Jo, one of the robbers, belong to the underworld. A world populated by thieves, gamblers, drug dealers and prostitutes. This film really does take you into another world. Watch out for a marvellous scene early in the film set in the backroom of a bar where a group of men have spent the night playing poker, not one of them has removed his hat.
The lead part, Tony, is taken by Jean Servais, whose craggy face is perfect for the part of a ageing tough guy trapped by his past and his sense of underworld honour.
The French have many good gangster flics, this is still the best.
Rating:
Summary: absolutely brilliant
Review: Rififi is, in 2 words, absolutely brilliant. The atmosphere is immersive - especially in the heist scene, with no dialogue. It is true that in the first pressing, the audio track was off a bit, but that has been corrected - a great sign of Criterion's commitment to the film and customer. The film is an extremely involving, interesting work, and one of the classic "heist" films. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Rififi needs editing? Hardly.
Review: Rififi needs editing? Hardly. Rififi needs nothing but bowing down to. Some college Joes from Collegeville need editing. The permanent kind. Can there honestly be a place in the world out there called "Collegeville"?
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Film Noir by a Brilliant Director
Review: The best thing about this edition of Rififi (apart from the excellent digital transfer) is the interview with Mr Dassin. It is both entertaining and enlightening.Thankyou Criterion, and Mr Dassin!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Film...
Review: The second printing of this DVD has seen all sound synchronisation problems rectified. Go to Criterionco.com to verify this on their 'known problems' page. The transfer is now close to perfect. The film itself is fascinating and entertaining, a character study masquerading as a thriller. I've written a longer review elsewhere, and am only amending this one so prospective buyers are alerted to Criterion's fix of the previous sound problems.
Rating:
Summary: Tough Guys Don't Dance
Review: This film is probably solely for people interested in the history of film and its development. Don't get me wrong, it is a great film, but I doubt it is for a general audience of modern viewers. I have wanted to see this film for many years after having once seen the previews in some theatre when I was very young. It never played on cable, and was unavailable in any medium (VHS, DVD)....at least when I was looking for it. So, I am very grateful that Criterion has brought out this beautiful edition. Having grown up in the 50's I can see why this film was such a sensation. It is tough and gritty, no nonsense, frank and nonchalant about sex (no one today can know how refreshing that was in 50's America, and how people craved foreign films for that reason among others). This film takes its place with the great Asphalt Jungle and The Killing (of roughly the same period) about thieves falling-out and meticulous plans coming undone. Dassin's audacity in filming the robbery sequence without music track or dialogue still looks pretty courageous today. The robbery itself looks somewhat dated only because it has been copied and elaborated on by so many, including Dassin himself who satarized it in Topkapi. Like the old Frankenstein, or King Kong, or It Happened One Night, or Stagecoach, or any original genre classic, I enjoy seeing the work of the guy who did it first. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and Jules Dassin's Rififi has been imitated many times. I was glad to finally see the original in this pristine copy. The Criterion DVD is fine. My copy had no problems with subtitles or anything else, so I don't know what happened with the other reviewer's complaint. The interview with Dassin is quite good, and will remind the viewer of not only the effects of the blacklist (Dassin was Blacklisted) but also how excellent films can come out of strange and humble origins. I must mention Jean Servais, the lead in Rififi. He is simply great, with his gravelly voice and his lived-in face, and his mournful yet tough, been-there-done-that eyes. He is the epitome of a Bogart-like French tough guy. All in all, a real treat for the discerning viewer.
|
