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(1970) Impassive faces, snap-brim hats, dangling cigarettes,
sunglasses after dark, raincoats without rain, nightclub floor shows, and a
prologue quote from an ersatz Indian mystic: “When men are to meet one
day, whatever may befall them, whatever their diverging paths, they will inevitably
come together in the Red Circle.” We’re unmistakably in the milieu
of Jean-Pierre Melville, doyen of the New Wave and prince of the fate-haunted
French gangster picture (Le Doulos, Bob Le Flambeur,
Le Samourai), here, for his penultimate work in the genre (“a digest
of all the thriller-type films I have made”) bringing together four archetypal
hommes durs for their appointment with destiny: prisoner-in-transit Gian Maria
Volonte, crashing (literally) out of the train that’s taking him from
Marseilles to Paris, to the dismay of his police escort, the relentless Inspector
Mattei (played by French comedy legend Bourvil, cast against type for his final
role); ex-cop Yves Montand, moving from hopeless DT-plagued drunk to dapper,
rock-steady sharpshooter; and Alain Delon — both art film super-star (for
Antonioni and Visconti, among others) and action anti-hero (most memorably as
Melville’s taciturn Samourai) — on his first day out of the joint
reclaiming gun and money, and shrugging off two murder attempts. All join forces
for a meticulously-orchestrated heist of a Place Vendôme bijouterie
(“choreographed like a bullfight with Delon the matador in white gloves
and full-face mask” – J. Hoberman), a silent tour-de-force in the
grand movie tradition of Rififi, Topkapi, and
The Asphalt Jungle.
A smash hit in France (it was the biggest success of the director’s career),
in this country Le Cercle Rouge was released (barely) in a dubbed version
shorn of 40 minutes. Here, for the first time, is the complete, uncut version
— in French (with new subtitles by Lenny Borger) — with its noirishly
muted color cinematography by Melville/New Wave lenser Henri Decaë (Le
Samourai, The 400 Blows, Elevator to the Gallows, Purple Noon, etc. etc.)
more vivid than ever in a brand new StudioCanal restoration. “Only Melville
could recreate this strange universe, of unreal images, of misty landscapes.”
– Jean Tulard, Guide des Films. “Darker, more abstract and desolate
than his earlier work, this shows, set piece by set piece, the breakdown of
the criminal code under which Melville’s characters had previously operated.”
– Time Out (London).
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AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON.COM:
 French Film Noir by Robin Buss |
 BOB LE FLAMBEUR [DVD] For sale at Film Forum concession stand - $24.50 (tax included). or at Amazon.com: DVD or VHS |
 Rififi DVD or VHS |
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