Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

jrd_73 Those who know Jess Franco's work only by his later, graphic films might be surprised by Rififi in the City, a solid film-noir. The book Immoral Tales compared Rififi in the City to The Lady from Shanghai, but there is only one scene, a clandestine meeting at an aquarium, that is a direct homage to the Welles film. A more fitting comparison would be Fritz Lang's The Big Heat. Franco is a film fan, so in addition to the Welles and Lang references, the director sprinkles homages to The 39 Steps, Kiss of Death, and probably other classic films as well. These add to the viewing fun of Rififi in the City without taking away from the its grim tone. The plot has Detective Miguel Mora obsessively chasing after politician Maurice Leprince, a well connected official who is responsible for most of the vice in the unnamed city. Leprince, an ex-Nazi, seldom gets his hands dirty, leaving that to his bodyguards and a shady nightclub manager, Puig. As the film opens, Detective Mora might have his man. Juan, an informer, has the proof. Then, Juan disappears, and Mora begins needling Leprince to return the missing man. After Juan's dead body is thrown into Mora's house, the detective becomes even more determined to nail the politician. Mora is not alone. Someone else is avenging Juan, murdering Leprince's bodyguards one at a time. Rififi in the City works as a film-noir. It features a good hero and villain. The ending is surprisingly downbeat. Even the mystery angle works better than expected. There are stumbles. Franco is not good at directing action scenes. Thus, the police raid on the nightclub at the climax of the film, which should be the film's set piece, comes across as haphazard and a missed opportunity. Still, Rififi in the City stands as one of the director's best made films. It might be too much of a standard film for some of the Franco fanatics, but it is a good one to show those who think of Franco as only a hack director of sex films.

arbesudecon I know it's hard to keep track of the endless mumber of movies Jess Franco carriedout during his 4 decades career ...sometimes 3 o 4 at a time , but if someone asks me to list only three among his more remarkable this would be one of those that would made the cut.Don't think for a second this is up to the Rififi's standards , Jess probably thought that could get some extra publicity by having Jean Servais so tried to sell this as a kind of Rififi follow up , but sadly all similarities ended up in the title .As a film noir it turns out to be quite weak at some points but it's also true that , as it happens with most of Jess' flicks , Rififi en la ciudad has its charms . Apparently action is located in an undetermined South American country but actually Jess filmed all the action in the south of in Spain and even with a restricted budget ambiance are well crafted and manages to give us the atmosphere Jess intended . Plot itself it's not a wonder, classical search for a killer mixed up with some revenge touches but is enough to keep you interested throughout the film . Main assets here is that Jess is not trying to do here his usual mix of sexplotation ,vampires ,lesbanism . He steps in a different ground and provided the level of the Spanish cinema in the late 50's I would say that he accomplished a fine impersonation of the Dassin and Melville works and ambiance's.

Dr Bis Never released on video or DVD, RIFIFI EN LA CIUDAD is very rare to see on screen. Thanks to the Madrid Cinematheque, a new print was made in 1993 and has been shown in a few Franco retrospectives. The two others comments present here, tell you the excellent work done by Jesus and his team. What they both forgot, are the two flamboyant "cabaret" songs performed by Marie Vincent. The first one,"Passo Chico", has her singing in a shiny silver outfit about the seduction of the double steps performed by "Chico", then it switches to a larger scene where a knight in armor is dancing on stage , around him are also several dancing girls in costumes, including one in a Cleopatra outfit. A very modern sequence, mixed in a very classic and serious crime film story. Later on, Miss Vincent also sings about what love can do to a woman, all dressed up in fluffy lingerie nightgown. A film not be missed, even if you are not a Franco fan. By the way, who ever credited Jess Franco as "the worst Film Director Ever" ? ...

manuel-pestalozzi This movie in crisp, expertly lighted black and white has not one boring second. It may not be the greatest piece of cinematic art, but there is a lot of artistic ambition on display so that the movie may well suck you in for the odd 90 minutes.The title is a rip off from Jules Dassin's masterpiece Rififi Chez les Hommes. The main villain here is none other than Belgian character actor Jean Servais who played the top gangster in the original Rififi. The story line reminded me more of Dashiell Hammett's The Glass Key: The Servais character is a gangster and night club owner who also runs for senator. The political campaign takes up quite some time, with a huge mass of Servais posters in the streets, a propaganda march in a public space, a full fledged political speech and Servais kissing an old woman and later complaining to his aides that she smelled of onions. A police informer and ladies man close to the Servais character was killed (he is not deposited on the steps of a police station but thrown through the window into a police man's private residence – which might give an idea of the degree of violence dealt out here) and it is basically about the search of the killer and a succession of further killings to avenge that death. The negative nature of politics in general takes quite a lot of space which always surprises me a little in movies that were apparently made in Spain during the Franco regime. Besides Servais there are a lot of really picturesque character actors of both sexes on display.