MUBI

Aging gangster Lino Ventura escapes from prison and lands a gig in an armored truck robbery in this quintessential policier from Jean-Pierre Melville, adapted from Jose Giovanni’s novel with a remarkable sense of universal dread, eliminating heroes from both sides of the law. As Ventura eludes the cops (Paul Meurisse as the doppelganger Commissioner Blot), hooks up with an old flame (Christine Fabrega), and works with a former partner (Raymond Pellegrin) on the brilliantly conceived billion dollar heist, Melville’s text-book mixture of montage, long take, and noirish atmosphere create a world where everything runs smoothly, but paranoia, deception, coercion, and ego are always present to destroy the efficiently stacked cog. As Gu, the tough-as-nails gangster on the run, superstar Ventura uses his aging, bulky frame and vulnerable bull-dog mope to elicit a kind of criminal sympathy that works best when Meurisse is setting him up as a fall guy, and worst when seducing Fabrega (nobody ever accused Melville of being a sucker for romance), creating a character who knows his days are limited, living them out with proficient professional respectability, but with a lack of morals that makes it impossible to root for or against – the classic Melvillian anti-hero.