Pick #3 - Rififi - (1955) & this little beauty was my pick (& the best so far for that matter, for obvious reasons-i'll pay for that)
Rififi falls into the French crime/noir genre & came from the mid-50's, which was a time when French directors of all sorts were on or around their creative best. See under: Truffaut, Melville, Godard, Malle. (The 1950's is easily my favorite decade in film as some of you know) However, Rififi was directed by an American named Jules Dassin who had been blacklisted (banned for political reasons or associations) in Hollywood & subsequently found work in France.
The film revolves around a "supposedly" impossible jewel heist (aren't they all?) that (recently freed from prison) Tony is contemplating with his long time pal Jo. Jo brings in the Italian Mario & Mario brings in his compatriot Cesar as safe cracker. The four of them form a great, almost comedic team at times. They decide to go for broke & target the store's safe as opposed to the front window, which would be less of a score.
After casing the store during business hours they decide to drill through the ceiling of an upstairs flat to get into the store without being noticed. The climax of the film is said to be an almost 30 minute sequence of events with little to no dialogue or music that depicts different elements of the heist in vicious detail. Dassin shows these tedious moments of a crime without it feeling too tedious. You get an understanding of how difficult the group's work is, to complete the job.
The plot of the film only strengthens after the actual heist - I'll leave that for future viewers. The French crime genre is an incredible pool of films that I'm barely even cracking the surface of, but it's also a section of film history that offers style, intrigue, incredible black & white photography, action, & even the occasional musical number,...enjoy, or don't.
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