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Sunday, August 7, 2011

Rififi!


Oh, how I love crime films and film noir! I finally had time to finish watching Jules Dassin's Du rififi chez les hommes also known as Rififi (1955). It's fantastic and I definitely recommend it to others who love suspense and crime films. 

Rififi takes place in Paris, France. It's about four men who plan out a fantastic jewel heist, doing plenty of research to ensure that they will be successful at stealing the goods. After the four commit what seems to be the perfect crime, one of the men foolishly gives his mistress one of the stolen and extremely valuable jewels. This mistress happens to work as a singer for a mob that the men are not on good terms with. What will happen once his mob notices this jewel? Watch the film to find out!

When I was watching this film, I kept being reminded of Ocean's Eleven (1960 & 2001) during the majority of the first half of the movie. By the end of the film, the two were not as similar, but I definitely think that Rififi must have influenced both versions of Ocean's. There is much more character development in Rififi though, as well as more suspense and twists in the plot. The best part of the film occurs during the jewel heist and the ending portion of the film. Brilliant film! 

2 comments:

Dan Heaton said...

You're definitely right about Rififi. This is one of the great heists films of all time. Nice job.

Kalli said...

Thanks, Dan! What's another heist film you enjoy?

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