A skilled thief who lives in elegance when he’s not locked up in jail plans an elaborate jewelry store heist with two collaborators picked up almost at random: a notorious escaped convict and an alcoholic ex-cop. With a determined inspector on their tail, they face impossible odds.

The perfect crime? No—but perhaps the perfect crime movie! Jean-Pierre Melville’s star-studded (Alain Delon, Yves Montand, Gian Maria Volontè) heist film is the peak of the director’s ritualistic, nearly fetishistic paean to cops and robbers, influencing everyone from Michael Mann to Johnnie To.