Did you people see the same film I saw?

best movie i've ever seen.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Dear French Filmmakers, why do you always have to infuse your misanthropy, fatalism and melancholia into romantic expressions of the American identity like the gangster? In The Big Risk, the director guy Claude Sautet entertains the hell out of us with a pulsating heist scene, a thrilling car and bike chase through the French countryside, another action sequence on a boat and a shootout on the seashores of an island. But this is all over in the first twenty minutes of the film. The rest of the film is about the dreary, sad and mundane life of a gangster on the run. His fear for the future of his kids and the betrayal by his old gangster friends who are all worse than the worst of squares could be from the life of any ordinary man. The final scene where Lino Ventura walks across a crowded street - a completely inconsequential man who bumps into other inconsequential men is pretty grim. There is no epic romantic death like Dix Handley in The Asphalt Jungle for this French gangster. As he walks away, a voice over informs us that a week later, this person is captured, sentenced and executed. Very original. But also very grim. Best Regards, Pimpin. (8/10)

Talking to a fellow IMDber about the Robert Hossein Film Noir Night Is Not For Sleep,I got given a list of French Film Noir (FFN) recs.Cutting away the FFN's I've seen,I spotted a Fabulous-looking Film Noir that Criterion has put out,which led to me deciding to risk it.The plot:Performing a successful robbery in Italy, Abel Davos and Raymond Naldi decide to escape the police by running off to France. Suspecting that he won't be coming back,Davos decides to make it a family affair,by bringing his wife Thérèse and sons Pierrot and Daniel along.Hiding on a deserted island,the group are shocked when they spot cops landing on the island.During a heavy shoot-out,the cops kill Naldi and Thérèse,just before Abel kills them.Finding himself on his own with the kids,Davos calls fellow gangsters Vintran and Fargier to help him stay undercover,which leads Vintran and Fargier contacting ambulance driver (!)Eric Stark to help with an emergency operation.View on the film:Running out of the tracks,the opening 30 minutes of co-writer/(along with José Giovanni & Pascal Jardin) director Claude Sautet's adaptation of fellow director (and ex-gangster!) Giovanni's book moves at a lightning fast speed,shooting up Film Noir loners, fiery shoot- outs,and the killing of major characters,Coming along with Stark in the ambulance,the writers display a superb eye for when to press the Film Noir gear down on Davos,which gives his touching, bitter-sweet relationship with his kids room to blossom, as the Film Noir crimes Davos committed start to circle round and close in.Going into hiding with Davos,director Claude Sautet & cinematographer Ghislain Cloquet bask in an anxiety-drenched Film Noir mood,where the raw sounds of speeding cars and gun fire keep Davos permanently on edge. Folding other gangsters into Davos tragic family drama,Sautet and Cloquet keep Davos undercover with a Film Noir elegance,with long shadows curling round each of Davos and Stark's hide-outs, until they all choke on Film Noir doom.Fighting at the side of the road,the gorgeous Sandra Milo gives a superb performance as Liliane.Dressed as a hard-edge Punk Rocker,Milo gives Liliane a warm,heart-felt mood,as Liliane gradually finds herself being on Stark's side.Entering as an outsider, Jean-Paul Belmondo gives an excellent performance as Stark,thanks to Belmondo threading Stark with an out of his depth eagerness,with rough Film Noir street fighting smarts.Trying to keep his sons away from seeing his work, Lino Ventura gives a magnificent performance as Abel Davos. Displaying a touching tenderness to the kids,Ventura crushes any aww-shucks sides from Davos with a cold- eyed Film Noir intensity,as Davos and the kids are rushed by Stark to Film Noir A & E.

they robbed couriers in the Italian cities, but those robberies were quick and confusing to the pedestrians, so why the laws so easily identified these two culprits and so certain that those crimes were committed by these two criminals? when they emerged from the subway entrance, got into a car and drove away, why they had to drive so fast to get away? there's nobody identified them yet. when Raymond hijacked a car in the border town and his partner met him on the road, why they didn't drive away in their first car and had to switch to the hot car just hijacked a moment ago? there were so many illogic arrangements of the scenarios, simply so readily convenient to serve the going of the storyline. by quick tempo, unpredictable incidents happened one after another, it so easily to fool the viewers without any hard trying to convince them with creditability. a professional criminal with a wife and two kids on the run with a die-hard partner is indeed quite dramatically interesting, but all the unnecessary twists are just too unnatural and contrived to be accepted by a viewer with basic reasoning. the film used a lot of chain reactions to serve the upcoming incidents one after another, but not tried hard to develop the characters from the very beginning to the end, only by patching up many pieces of the incidents on the quilt cover without any solid insulation materials inside the quilt. watchable, but not as great as many viewers' high praises.

I agree with all the strenghts mentioned in the other reviews but there are some beats missing here that keep it firmly inside the genre of crime drama or film noir and limit it from being a great drama beyond the limits of the "elements" that make up film noir--not to say that the great film noirs aren't/can't/shouldn't be also great dramas, but this one isn't.One other note the music in the film is used sparingly but I would say is used to accentuate the action more frequently than the wife elements.Great set up to this film by the way with an abrupt sort of non ending ending that is either just right or a let down depends.Spoilers follow as to some specifics.The big turn in the story involves the children seeing their mother die, or it should be the big moment. But the children are never shown to react one way or the other. Neither cries, neither asks their father what happened, the kids are good actors and the reactions of the father are I suppose what matters but this is a big misstep. This is the heart of the story and the kids are kept mostly blank in their reaction. They really just have none, in the next scene they look as if nothing happened.In like fashion there is a bond that forms between Belmondo and Ventura's characters. Belmondo says he knew the partner who was killed--but this is never explained and has no impact dramatically on Belmondo or anyone else. The Belmondo romantic subplot also strains credibility though it's convincingly acted. Ventura's character just lets Belmondo involve a total stranger in their escape plan for no reason. He doesn't even comment or seem to notice. Another gap.The ending to the movie, and I won't spoil it, the ending happens off screen with a perfunctory voice over to tell you what happened. I guess this tries to make it feel more true to life, but again like these other missteps leaves drama off screen.What's the point of not dealing with these issues? I don't know, other than maybe the goals of the film were limited to giving the audience what it wants from a crime melodrama--suggest some deeper elements, then move on to ignore them.IN CONCLUSION THEN.Too bad there is much to recommend this film, Ventura is very very good, but too bad it could have been a great drama as well as a crime story--as with IMDb favorite movie of all time THE GODFATHER. This film had potential. Would make for a good remake though if done in the U.S. more problems would probably sink the film, but in the hands of the right director this would be a good remake,though it's doubtful Ventura's performance could be topped.So worth seeing but frustrating as a whole