Blacklisted American director Jules Dassin had been five years between projects, even after moving to France to try and recover his successful career (The Naked City, Brute Force). Broke and near despair, he was finally handed a single opportunity, to film a potboiler novel he loathed for only $200K.
He resolved the source material problem by co-writing a screenplay that eliminated everything but a minor incident--a carefully planned burglary of a Parisian jewelry store. He used the money to fund the best available craftsmen behind the cameras, choosing unknowns and hasbeens for the onscreen talent. When a contract dispute caused one actor to walk, Dassin filled in himself as the fourth member of the team (written as an Italian who didn't speak French, to cover up Dassin's lack of the lingo).
The result: a brutal, suspenseful tale of the planning, execution, and aftermath of a breakin performed by four career criminals out for one last score. Rififi was a critical and financial phenomenon, winning raves and record returns throughout the world; it created the heist genre and still stands as the benchmark by which all entries are assessed. Dassin won the Cannes prize for Best Director, restored his career and got to marry Melina Mercouri.
Rififi's influence really can't be overstated, particularly in the presentation of the heist, as the thieves execute their meticulous plan with nothing more complicated than simple tools, an umbrella, and a fire extinguisher. (The exposition is so accurate that many countries cut out key scenes to avoid copycat thefts.)
Dassin presents the heist in screen silence--a convention that has been faithfully copied ever since, the genre equivalent of the musical's "you're going out a chorus girl, but you're coming back a star!". Unlike other landmark films, this one hasn't aged almost at all and certainly doesn't suffer from familiarity.
Eliminate the influential aspects and Rififi still has plenty to offer. The characters are unglorified thugs and likeable for it. The performances are solid or better (Jean Servais as the aging ex-con stands out), the story engrossing, the dialog in the noir tradition, with a French twist. ("Bonjour, beautiful, put your moneymaker right here.") The technical aspects are gorgeous--cinematography, set design, and score particularly. Paris is used as effectively as San Francisco is used in Bullitt--Dassin spent hours looking for evocative street corners, alleys, and riverfronts.
Made outside the confines of the Hollywood production code, the brutality and sexuality isn't hedged and doesn't date. I read a few reviews that complained about the film's treatment of women but I'm not sure why. All the female characters come off quite well. (They are all more than a tad bodacious, particularly Mario's buxom and bubbly wife.)
The heist is Act II, with a major chunk of the story left untold The heist serves as the catalyst, not the outcome. Regardless of how one might feel about the outcome, it is hard not to admire the structure. Throughout the film, the four thieves are primarily defined not by indivdiual characteristics, but by their relationships--with each other, with loved ones, with enemies. Dassin uses these relationships to drive the story to its resolution and pulls it off beautifully. Had I not been forewarned, I might have found the third act most annoyingly "French".
For all its fame and readily acknowledged influence, Rififi has been almost completely unavailable for most of the 45 years since its release. Rialto has performed another rescue, and they released the results last fall. I caught the movie in a second-run art house; look for it in your neighborhood. The DVD contains a 1998 interview with Dassin who participated in the restoration and helped rewrite the subtitles.
I suppose Rififi could be considered one of the few positive aspects of Hollywood's McCarthy period. Dassin slips in an editorial comment about it; note what happens to the guy who rats someone out.
Not to be missed; check it out at your first opportunity.
