Post by Jenson71 on Apr 6, 2009 0:11:47 GMT
I saw this film at the Film Forum theater in New York City the other night. Film Forum is a nice little place funded by foundations and the film and literary folks that populate Greenwich Village, SoHo, and Washington Square (this last group usually a student, former student, or professor at NYU).
Rififi is a classic heist film. Oh, it's thrilling. You have this Bogart type -- a tough, experienced guy who says a lot in his hard looks, not much verbally. He reminded me a lot of Bogart; I'm sure the actor had Bogart in mind.
The director is Jules Dassin. He directed Brute Force, which I think is one of his most famous. I think it's on Criterion.
The first 1/3 of the movie introduces the characters. There's the old card-playing gang, the woman, and the punk who now has the woman.
The second 1/3 is the heist. It's about a half hour long and has no talking. Not much sound at all - a small whistle to get attention, some hammers, and then a screeching metal on metal noise which really contrasts things.
The last 1/3 is the affect the heist has on those who attempted to carry it out.
The heist and last 1/3 are thrilling, even if at times a bit over-theatrical. For instance, our bad guy hero is following one of the goons, and he follows him out to the country and is literally 5 feet behind him on foot. The audience laughed when they showed this. Oh well, it was still great. I'm buying it.
"Rififi," by the way, you learn what that means during one of those classic provocative foreign cabernet acts that would have never been included in an American film, like grabbing your filly's tit like in 400 Blows. And there's a little of that in here as well. There's also a scene of humiliation and domestic violence that was controlled, yet intense, that really takes you out of post-war American film, or at least what I know of it.
And yet the theme and moral of the story is timeless, as well as the excitement.
Rififi is a classic heist film. Oh, it's thrilling. You have this Bogart type -- a tough, experienced guy who says a lot in his hard looks, not much verbally. He reminded me a lot of Bogart; I'm sure the actor had Bogart in mind.
The director is Jules Dassin. He directed Brute Force, which I think is one of his most famous. I think it's on Criterion.
The first 1/3 of the movie introduces the characters. There's the old card-playing gang, the woman, and the punk who now has the woman.
The second 1/3 is the heist. It's about a half hour long and has no talking. Not much sound at all - a small whistle to get attention, some hammers, and then a screeching metal on metal noise which really contrasts things.
The last 1/3 is the affect the heist has on those who attempted to carry it out.
The heist and last 1/3 are thrilling, even if at times a bit over-theatrical. For instance, our bad guy hero is following one of the goons, and he follows him out to the country and is literally 5 feet behind him on foot. The audience laughed when they showed this. Oh well, it was still great. I'm buying it.
"Rififi," by the way, you learn what that means during one of those classic provocative foreign cabernet acts that would have never been included in an American film, like grabbing your filly's tit like in 400 Blows. And there's a little of that in here as well. There's also a scene of humiliation and domestic violence that was controlled, yet intense, that really takes you out of post-war American film, or at least what I know of it.
And yet the theme and moral of the story is timeless, as well as the excitement.