Bob le flambeur
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| Bob le flambeur | |
 Bob le flambeur (1956) |
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| Directed by | Jean-Pierre Melville (as Melville) |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Jean-Pierre Melville Serge Silberman |
| Written by | Auguste Le Breton Jean-Pierre Melville |
| Starring | Roger Duchesne Isabelle Corey Guy Decomble |
| Music by | Eddie Barclay Jo Boyer |
| Release date(s) | August 24, 1956 (France) |
| Running time | 102 min |
| Language | French |
Bob le flambeur ("Bob the Gambler" or "Bob the High Roller") is a 1956[1] French gangster film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. The film stars Roger Duchesne as Bob. It is filmed in a film noir style and is considered a precursor to the French New Wave movement.[2]
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[edit] Synopsis
Bob, a middle-aged gambler and thief living in the Montmartre district of Paris, experiences a run of bad luck that leaves him nearly broke. Bob is a gentleman with scruples, well-liked in the demi-monde community. He hears through a croupier friend that the Deauville Casino holds undreamed-of quantities of cash, vulnerable in the early morning hours. Bob develops a complicated scheme to steal it, bringing in a tough but naive young protege and an ace safecracker into his scheme, along with a few other underworld characters. Meanwhile, Inspector Ledru of the local police, whom Bob once saved from death, gets a hint that Bob is involved in something big - but the snitch is gunned down just as he is about to confirm the specifics. On the evening of the planned heist, the croupier's greedy wife betrays the gang to Ledru, who searches Bob's Montmartre haunts to warn him off the plan - in vain. At the casino, Bob gambles while nominally casing the scene. A phenomenal winning streak ensues that lasts all night. This is the dance with Lady Luck he has waited for all his life. Suddenly, he realizes it is the appointed hour of 5:00 AM. Bob is startled, hurriedly cashes in his immense cache of chips and exits the casino floor. Just as his gang arrives, Ledru and the police descend and the shooting starts. Bob rushes out of the casino, in time to cradle his dying protege for a brief moment, then is handcuffed and arrested, just as the casino employees trundle out his pile of cash winnings. His cash is loaded into the boot of Inspector Ledru's car.[3]
[edit] Critical reaction
Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times in 1981, noted "Melville's affection for American gangster movies may have never been as engagingly and wittily demonstrated as in Bob le Flambeur, which was only the director's fourth film, made before he had access to the bigger budgets and the bigger stars (Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon) of his later pictures.[4]
The film received positive reviews when re-released by Rialto Pictures in US cinemas in 2001, earning a 96 percent "Cream Of The Crop" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a website that collects film reviews.[5]
[edit] Principal cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Isabelle Corey | Anne |
| Daniel Cauchy | Paolo |
| Roger Duchesne | Bob Montagné |
| Guy Decomble | Insp. Ledru |
| André Garet | Roger |
[edit] Remake
Bob le flambeur was remade by Neil Jordan as The Good Thief in 2002.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047892/releaseinfo
- ^ http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030525/REVIEWS08/305250301/1023
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047892/plotsummary
- ^ http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E00E3D81038F935A1575AC0A967948260
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bob_le_flambeur/
[edit] External links
- Bob le Flambeur at the Internet Movie Database
- Bob le flambeur at Allmovie
- Bob le Flambeur at Metacritic
- Criterion Collection essay by Luc Sante
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