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Touchez pas au grisbi

France

1954

96 Min
Black and White
1.33:1
French
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
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DIR Jacques Becker

PROD Robert Dorfmann

DP Pierre Montazel

CAST Jean Gabin, René Dary, Paul Frankeur, Lino Ventura, Michel Jourdan, Jeanne Moreau, Dora Doll, Denise Clair, Gaby Basset, Paul Oettly, Delia Scala, Daniel Cauchy, Vittorio Sanipoli, Marilyn Buferd

ED Marguerite Renoir

PROD DES Jean d'Eaubonne

MUSIC Jean Wiener

Venice (Best Actor): Volpi Cup

Synopsis

Jean Gabin is at his most wearily romantic as aging gangster Max le Menteur in the Jacques Becker gem Touchez pas au grisbi (Hands Off the Loot!). Having pulled off the heist of a lifetime, Max looks forward to spending his remaining days relaxing with his beautiful young girlfriend. But when Riton (René Dary), Max’s hapless partner and best friend, lets word of the loot slip to loose-lipped, two-timing Josy (Jeanne Moreau), Max is reluctantly drawn back into the underworld. A touchstone of the gangster-film genre, Touchez pas au grisbi is also pure Becker—understated, elegant, evocative. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

Jacques Becker

His interest in films was stimulated by a meeting with King Vidor, who offered him employment in the US as actor and assistant director. However, he remained in France and became assistant to Jean Renoir, a friend of the family, during that director’s peak period (1932-39). In 1934 he ventured briefly into independent production, co-directing with Pierre Prévert a short film, Le commissaire est bon enfant, le gendarme est sans pitié (1935). In 1935 he turned out a five-reeler, Tête de turc (1935), which he later refused to acknowledge as his.

In 1939 he began shooting a feature film, L’or du Cristobal (1940), but walked out after three weeks, leaving the film to be finished by Jean Stelli. In 1942, after a year in a German prisoner-of-war camp, he began his career as director. His entire output consisted of only 13 films, but they include some of the most artistically and technically substantial in French cinema. He is one of the few Old Guard directors done honor by the New… read more

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Displaying 4 of 8 wall posts.
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Julio Ernesto Franco

23May12

"real men eat pate". i feel that touchez pas au grisbi and the killing of a chinese bookie are the two film that truly define the genre of gangster drama.

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trolley freak

14Dec11

Becker's elegant crime movie, an influence on the later work of Melville, stars French superstar Jean Gabin as an ageing, world weary gangster hoping to retire after one last big heist but drawn into conflict when his loose-tongued friend and partner spills the beans to his young lover. The pace is thoughtful and slow but leads to an explosive climax on a dark and lonely road complete with bombs and machine guns.....

crmantao and 2 others like this

Espen Nomedal, ruby stevens

Colin Landon

29Jun11

Grisbi means loot in French and this film is about gangsters, cigarettes and big American cars. It's listed as a thriller, but the slow pace would not put it in that genre by today's standards. Some parts scandalous parts in this, film like a woman sniffing coke. In a 1954 film! That kind of stuff was forbidden in the US till at least late seventies.

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Alain Leun

2Jun11

Eveything in this gem is made with unique style.Acting,directing,music,everything....

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The foreign treasure of the sierra madre.

By LifeofF​iction on December 9, 2011

Many people in american cinema point to ‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre’ when it comes to films which expose the grotesque side of greed. I would propose that ‘Touchez pas au Grisbi’ is a the perfect…  read review

Untitled

By asuraf on February 23, 2009

Classic Jacques Becker gangster saga, bridging the gap between “Pepe le Moko” and “Bob le Flambeur”, with a never better Jean Gabin as an aging old time thief whose final score is supposed to set him…  read review

Untitled

By Pierlui​gi Puccini on February 2, 2009

There are more worries in the life of a gangster besides money. There’s love, loyalty, friendship, and the most implacable killer of all: time itself, the way it undermines and vanishes every human…  read review

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DVD

Buy the DVD from The Criterion Collection.