David O'ConnellTouchez Pas au Grisbi (Don't Touch the Loot)
January 15th 2010 03:42
In a genre crowded with rehashed stories put through the production wringer again and again with little or no variation, where do you turn in search of an energising jolt of originality? Something that’ll leave you reeling, perhaps remind you of a time when filmmakers actually fooled around with novel approaches? How about casting an eye over Jacques Becker’s classy, influential crime drama from 1954? Yes, it’s from before you were born, but here's a film brimming with those intangibles that inform true greatness. And nearly sixty years later it still leaves behind a vivid impression.
Max le Menteur (Jean Gabin) and his longtime cohort Riton (Rene Dary) are patiently cooling their heels whilst front-page attention from their latest heist dies down. It’s been a month now since their theft of 50 million francs worth of gold bullion. Things seem to be going swimmingly as the pair idly pass time with their much younger ditzy showgirl companions, Lola (Dora Doll) and Josy (a young Jeanne Moreau).
Then a visit to the club where the girls perform one night sees them crossing paths with a drug-dealing acquaintance Angelo (Lino Ventura) and his boss Pierrot (Paul Frankeur). By chance Max stumbles upon a suspicious scenario with Riton’s girl in the arms of Angelo in her dressing room.
When Max is tailed back to his apartment by Angelo’s henchman he suspects there’s something in the wind; loose tongues have been wagging, putting vital information in jeopardy. With Josy the weak link it doesn’t take Einstein to figure out that Angelo’s knowledge now extends to the culprits responsible for a theft that has the whole nation talking and he’ll stoop to any measures to get his own slimy paws on the gold.
Max is a wearied fighter grinding down to a raw, cynicism though he allows few external cues to betray his depleted sense of progress. Once Riton’s well-being is threatened he's forced to put his own motivations under the microscope; this soul-searching requires him to draw straws, provoking a choice between prosperity or morality. With the assistance of Pierrot, who is equally offended by Angelo’s nerveless betrayal, the stage is set, confrontation looming like an engorged black cloud on a dusty horizon.
The real strength of Becker’s film lies in its subtleties, in the minutiae of its observations which are almost intimate in nature; among them, Max preparing a meal and bed for he and Riton’s night in a secret haven as they consider their next move; Riton’s wry contemplation of his mirror-image after Max’s cutting appraisal of his foolish ways and assurances that time has passed them by; and Max’s own internal meanderings as he ponders, during the film’s lone narration, an alternative future in which he conceded nothing to sentimental ties.
The magnificent Gabin, a star from the early days of French cinema, holds court for virtually every scene of the film; he’s irresistible as the aging crime figure who commands authority with his suave, indominatable presence. Touchez Pas au Grisbi is as much a character study as anything else, a rumination on the place of one man in the world, a man filled with abject despair as he ponders wrong choices, yet adhering to a code of honour and friendship that's allowed his connection to the simple Riton to endure for 20 years.
There are no flashy visual bursts or array of startling angles, no trickery. Becker’s style is direct, subordinate to both narrative and performance; a model of restraint, telling a simple genre story with compelling artfulness. The conclusion is reached with a suspenseful showdown between competing factions on a lonely country road where the film’s only real violence is realised to brilliant effect.
This is a genuine classic, appearing untouched by time, and the finest work produced by Becker who had earlier learned his craft as an assistant to Jean Renoir. Here he combined with Albert Simonin - upon whose book the film is based - and a third writer, Maurice Griff, to fashion a screenplay that delves deep into the consciousness of a flawed but fascinating man.
Touchez Pas au Grisbi is now out on DVD from Madman.
Max le Menteur (Jean Gabin) and his longtime cohort Riton (Rene Dary) are patiently cooling their heels whilst front-page attention from their latest heist dies down. It’s been a month now since their theft of 50 million francs worth of gold bullion. Things seem to be going swimmingly as the pair idly pass time with their much younger ditzy showgirl companions, Lola (Dora Doll) and Josy (a young Jeanne Moreau).
Then a visit to the club where the girls perform one night sees them crossing paths with a drug-dealing acquaintance Angelo (Lino Ventura) and his boss Pierrot (Paul Frankeur). By chance Max stumbles upon a suspicious scenario with Riton’s girl in the arms of Angelo in her dressing room.
When Max is tailed back to his apartment by Angelo’s henchman he suspects there’s something in the wind; loose tongues have been wagging, putting vital information in jeopardy. With Josy the weak link it doesn’t take Einstein to figure out that Angelo’s knowledge now extends to the culprits responsible for a theft that has the whole nation talking and he’ll stoop to any measures to get his own slimy paws on the gold.
The incomparable Jean Gabin as Max
Max is a wearied fighter grinding down to a raw, cynicism though he allows few external cues to betray his depleted sense of progress. Once Riton’s well-being is threatened he's forced to put his own motivations under the microscope; this soul-searching requires him to draw straws, provoking a choice between prosperity or morality. With the assistance of Pierrot, who is equally offended by Angelo’s nerveless betrayal, the stage is set, confrontation looming like an engorged black cloud on a dusty horizon.
The real strength of Becker’s film lies in its subtleties, in the minutiae of its observations which are almost intimate in nature; among them, Max preparing a meal and bed for he and Riton’s night in a secret haven as they consider their next move; Riton’s wry contemplation of his mirror-image after Max’s cutting appraisal of his foolish ways and assurances that time has passed them by; and Max’s own internal meanderings as he ponders, during the film’s lone narration, an alternative future in which he conceded nothing to sentimental ties.
Max with Angelo (Lino Ventura)
The magnificent Gabin, a star from the early days of French cinema, holds court for virtually every scene of the film; he’s irresistible as the aging crime figure who commands authority with his suave, indominatable presence. Touchez Pas au Grisbi is as much a character study as anything else, a rumination on the place of one man in the world, a man filled with abject despair as he ponders wrong choices, yet adhering to a code of honour and friendship that's allowed his connection to the simple Riton to endure for 20 years.
There are no flashy visual bursts or array of startling angles, no trickery. Becker’s style is direct, subordinate to both narrative and performance; a model of restraint, telling a simple genre story with compelling artfulness. The conclusion is reached with a suspenseful showdown between competing factions on a lonely country road where the film’s only real violence is realised to brilliant effect.
This is a genuine classic, appearing untouched by time, and the finest work produced by Becker who had earlier learned his craft as an assistant to Jean Renoir. Here he combined with Albert Simonin - upon whose book the film is based - and a third writer, Maurice Griff, to fashion a screenplay that delves deep into the consciousness of a flawed but fascinating man.
Touchez Pas au Grisbi is now out on DVD from Madman.
Max with showgirls, Lola (Dora Doll) and Josy (Jeanne Moreau).
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