Le Cercle Rouge (1993)

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The first must-see film of the year.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

(Flash Review)Cut fun the same cloth as Rififi (1955), Rififi is tailored suit, while Le Cercle Rouge is merely something grabbed off the rack. Both are stylish and intricate heist films with minimal dialog and stark shot framing. Le Cercle Rouge starts off with a chap being released from prison and immediately getting back to his bread and butter, stealing, by meeting up with a skilled former policeman and later and unconvincing, I must add, a third man who is actively on the run after a daring escape from police custody. Later on the three plan an elaborate jewelry store heist full of bravado and arrogance. Will they succeed or fail? Live or die? They are all smooth and confident blokes who don't say much which is echoed by the lack of music in the film. While patiently paced, it feels dull at times and there are too many eye rolling plot decisions which hurts the overall effect. Overall, it was stylish and fun but could have been stronger.

Audience engaging intelligent Jewel Heist movie .. very silent movie----------- The Red Circle - Corey (fresh out of jail), Vogel (fugitive on the run), Jansen (crack-shot insane ex-detective), the Fence (converts diamonds to cash), and the Prison Guard (gives Corey heist mission) . The people outside the circle are Inspector Mattei (tasked with finding Vogel), Rico (the one responsible for getting Corey in jail), and Santi (mobster turned nightclub owner turned informant) .Corey is given the mission for a diamond heist; pays a "visit" to the man who set him up and stole his girl; gets paid "visit" from Rico's gangsters to get the money back; Vogel breaks free from Mattei; statewide manhunt ensues; Corey picks up hitch-hiker Vogel as rebels on the loose; gets paid another "visit" by Rico's gangsters, this one far more dangerous; Corey fills Vogel in on diamond heist; Vogel gets his old cop friend Jansen involved tooMattei pays visit to Santi for "information"; Jansen surveys the hot zone; Corey gets the Fence involved; the Break-In and Diamond Heist; Santi blackmails the Fence to take Corey's jewels; Santi's son overdoses in botched police investigation; The Trio knowing something is fishy and preparing for the worse; the Final Exchange9/10

Le Cercle Rouge is a top drawer French gangster film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and staring Alain Delon, Andre Bourvil, Gian Maria Volontè and Yves Montand. The movie is a classic 'heist picture', precisely and methodically moving through the set-up, the recruiting, the job, the escape and the bloody aftermath. The acting is excellent (although often minimalist) with Volontè (likely best known to most North Americans as the evil brother Ramon in "Fistful of Dollars" and the sadistic El Indio in "for a Few Dollars More) a real standout. A must-see for anyone who likes their cold-blooded killers snappily dressed in trench coats and fedoras.

I would hesitate to call this a thriller, since there is little to keep you on the edge of your seat. There is a jewel heist that is engaging, but it is not that different from similar heists in other movies and for me it did not have the suspense inherent in either of the heists in Jules Dassin's "Tokkopi" or "Rififi." The details on how the heist was planned are almost entirely missing--director Melvile seems to be more interested in what happened before and after the heist than in the mechanics of it. The overall mood is one of cool detachment.The movie starts with Corey (Alain Delon) getting out of prison, after having been told of an easy jewel heist by one of the prison guards. At first Corey expresses little interest, claiming that he has no interest in winding up in prison again. But the hook has been set. Later in the film Corey has a chance meeting with Vogel, an escaped prisoner on the lam. Once these two have hooked up it is inevitable that they cannot resist the robbery. More than half the movie is concerned with how Corey and Vogel meet. There is some philosophizing about how fate dictates certain personal meetings that have significant consequences. I did not see any great deep insight offered on this--we have all met people who have significantly changed our lives. No mysterious hand of fate is involved, just random chance.Along the way Corey and Vogel recruit the services of Jansen (Yves Montand) as an expert marksman. Jansen is an ex policeman who got out of the force because he could not tolerate the corruption. As we first meet Jansen he seems to have more general global problems than just with corruption in the police department as he is in the depths of the DTs. This scene is perhaps the scariest in the movie. The appearance of Jansen's apartment testifies to the quality of the set design, as seen throughout. Montand and Corey deliver the goods with their restrained performances and they alone make the movie worth seeing. The more I see Montand in these kind of roles, the more I think of him as a French Humphrey Bogart.I liked the variety shows being put on at the upscale nightclub where the mob gathered. I wish the DVD extras had had complete performances of those.The plot is not without holes. The biggest one for me was the fact that the thieves could gain access to the jewelry store by way of a window with single pane glass. No matter how remote that window was, given the heavy security in place it is hard to imagine that any entry was not maximally protected.The musical score is unobtrusive but effective and noteworthy in its own right.The head of the police internal affairs posits that all men are capable of corruption and evil. Is this so? And what about women?