Rififi is great!

I loved this movie, mostly because of two reasons: the character of Tony, who could say more with the silent strength of his face and body, while suffering greatly from his internal weaknesses both physical ( the cough, it makes you think he's going to die of that and just wants one last caper or one last statement as if to say, I'm above the law and the underworld) and mental. He totally overestimates the law and underestimates his gangland rivals led by Grutter... and the other reason... it kept doing unusual things and going in surprising directions. I thought I had this movie pretty much predicted, but boy was I wrong... and I liked its direction, and the great virtuosic camera work at the end, with me both worrying about the child in the back seat of Tony's veering and lurching car and shocked that this child was pretending to be a bandit with a gun at Tony's head at the same time, and the looks on that boy's face during that last drive, his maniacal unreserved laugh. It was like a foreshadowing of what might happen after the film was over. Also, it was darkly and savagely humorous when the cops finally get to Tony's car at the end and recover the money. By that time, everybody in Grutter's gang and everyone in Tony's group is dead, except for little Tonio, his mother, Mado, and Viviane.

Also, the song and silhoutte staging of "Rififi" was fantastic... like a mime play of the plot of the film and its characters... while a great deal was going on with the singing and movements of Viviane the singer and the audience, especially with Cesar whose relationship with Viviane proves to be the crucial plot element that moves the story along to its inevitable and fated conclusion.

I never knew a movie that should have been a stereotype of the film noir caper heist could actually use all the stereotypes and yet defy them so brilliantly at the same time! Dassin was a true genius! Well done!

ananda