Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Yashua Kimbrough (jimniexperience) "Rififi"This gangster-heist film noir was a one-of-a-kind when it first came out , and still one of the best to do it today. An inspiration for many to come, this is a multi-layered crime movie beyond just the heist itself. Also featuring excellent camerawork to create the mood with push-ins, close-ups, and character blocking. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Tony is fresh from jail and is deteriorating in health and gambling debt. His old friend, Jo, reaches out to Tony with a heist to get him off his feet: a window-shop diamond robbery. Tony declines at first, but after learning his ex-wife (whom left him while in jail) is in town and in bed with a nightclub owner Grutter (with ties to the mob and police), he accepts Jo's offer on two conditions: no guns, and they go for the bigger stash inside the safe.Tony and Jo are accompanied with two men: Mario the keymaker, and Cesar the safecracker. The four of them scout out the landscape: traffic times, surrounding store hours, postman or floral delivery schedules, police patrol schedules, etc. They get their hands on the bank's security system and run test trials to ensure they have sure-fire ways of diffusing the system. They manage to execute the perfect heist and everything goes to plan .... Except fore the "human element" ...Cesar fell in love with a singer who works at Grutter's nightclub, and he discovers who are the players behind the heist. He hires his dope fiend brother to kidnap Cesar , whom then snitches on Mario ,, who takes the fall for Tony - costing both him and his wife their life. Tony, still hungry for revenge over Grutter taking his wife, now wants vengeance for his good friend's death. Grutter kidnaps Jo's son and holds him for ransom, and Tony gets the drop on Grutter's secret villa. Jo isn't aware Tony is breaking his son out and delivers the money to Grutter ..........Long story short things get ugly in the name of stolen money10/10

elvircorhodzic RIFIFI is an intelligent and brutal thriller. The main protagonist is an old gangster who, after leaving the prison, at the urging of friends, decided to rob a jewelry store. Robbery is quite complicated, but a team of four men is ready. The robbery was carried out successfully. But his team, after the fatal error of one member, becomes the target of a rival gang ...This is one of the few films in which the script, scenery, dialogues, music, characterization and acting are almost perfectly aligned. It's an amazing blend of a cold-blooded crime and human sincerity. I must admit that some scenes, despite the undeniable quality, are too brutal. In this sense, this thriller has overshadowed some of Hollywood thrillers of fifties, which openly emphasized the brutality and explicitness. The story is somewhat predictable, but the human factor is secretive and mysterious. The mere robbery is brilliantly designed. Mr. Dassin created the poetry of motion without human speech. The robbery takes a long time and was carried out in a great atmosphere in which the tension can be cut with a knife. Of course, the knife sometimes "wanders", so any sudden movement or movement of an object is reminiscent of a human scream. I've enjoyed.The main protagonists are sincere and sympathetic (in a strange way). A rival gang is the embodiment of a crime which involves prostitution and drugs. Their performance is menacing and brutal, which is positively affected on the atmosphere of the film.Jean Servais as Tony "le Stéphanois" is the brains of the gang, a stubborn and an experienced criminal, who apparently can edit everything except his own life. Carl Möhner as Jo "le Suédois" is Tony's younger disciple. A handsome strongman who has a wife and a son. He is the protagonist who will have to choose between so desired prey and his own blood. Robert Manuel as Mario Ferrati is amiable Italian who carelessly enjoys with his beauty. The protagonist, who brings serenity in a thriller atmosphere. Jules Dassin as César "le Milanais", is the „director". There is no safe that he could not open. He is a little rascal whose weakness is women.I claim that this movie is one of the best French thrillers of all time.

William Samuel Nobody does noir like the French. They invented it, and although American and Japanese directors have made exceptional entries in the genre, the French still do it best. For evidence, I present exhibit A, Rififi, one of the greatest gangster/heist movies ever made. Aging gangster Tony, just out of prison, gathers his friends for one last job; cracking the safe at Paris's finest jeweler. It will be the most ambitious job of their careers, with an incredible payoff. And it doesn't end with the heist either. When rival gangster Pierre realizes what they've done and decides he wants in, everything they've accomplished is put in jeopardy.Rififi doesn't waste much time establishing the characters or the setup. Back-story isn't a major concern here. Each man has his own life and personality, but the important thing is that when it comes to business, Tony, Jo, Mario and Caesar are dead serious. They know the rules, and the stakes, and are the absolute best at what they do. Their preparations are complex and painstaking. Casing the joint, memorizing the opening times of the surrounding businesses, finding a way to defeat the alarm system, all are done with the utmost care.All of this leads up to one of the tensest scenes in all cinema; the heist itself. Over half an hour, with no music or dialogue, only the (very quiet) sounds of the men at work. And what work it is. Watching these four men chisel their way through the roof, disable the alarm, and crack the safe is like watching Michelangelo sculpt or Arnold Palmer play a round of golf. It is pure precision, with no margin for even the slightest error. And what creativity they bring to their trade! I have never seen such ingenious uses for a tube of caulk or an umbrella.Most films would have difficulty going this long without sound, but here the silence is an asset. The lack of sound underscores the fact that their work relies on near-total silence. Because there is no music or other background noise, we are keenly aware of every clink of the hammer, every rattle of loose concrete, and the fall of every footstep. The silence creates tension more effectively than any ominous music could. And all the while the clock is, quite literally, ticking. Time itself is their enemy. If Rififi ended with the successful conclusion of their daring burglary, it would be a very good movie. But it does not satisfy itself with a simple happy ending. As in so many of the best noirs, the second half tells how the best plans go awry, and everything begins to fall apart. A minor act of carelessness makes them targets of the most ruthless crime boss in Paris. The body count rises alarmingly, and the bad guys soon gain what is arguably the ultimate leverage.The last act is a masterwork or growing tension, sudden reversals, and hard decisions. And the final scene, which I will not give away, is probably the best of all. The pounding, ominous music, the rapid series of cuts, and the gravity of the situation contrast with the innocence of a young child in a way that is simply incredible. Rififi is fully equal- and perhaps superior to- Chinatown, The Big Heat, or Le Samourai. If you are a fan of classic noir, I highly urge to see this film.

Turfseer The director of 'Rififi', Jules Dassin, was down on his luck at the time he was asked to get involved with this gritty film noir. Dassin was a successful American director of film noirs up until the end of the 1940s when he was suddenly blacklisted during the days of the Senator Joe McCarthy witch hunts and barred from working in the United States. Speaking during a 2000 interview featured as part of the Criterion Collection's DVD extras, Dassin remarked that he was paid very little to direct 'Rififi' as the cast and crew also worked under an extremely low budget.'Rififi' is a very atmospheric film noir, shot intentionally under low light conditions. The plot revolves around a gang of jewel thieves led by Tony "le Stéphanois" (played by Jean Servais, a successful French actor in the 30s, whose career was in in decline at the time, due to alcoholism). Tony, just out of prison on a five year bid for a prior jewel heist, is approached by former pal, Jo, who proposes that they accept mutual friend Mario's plan to steal some jewels from a window display case of a prominent Parisian jewelry store. The plan is initially rejected by Tony who is preoccupied with his former girlfriend, Mado, who has taken up with a tough guy nightclub owner, Pierre Grutter. In the first of a number of scenes, craftily infused with a palpable, violent edge, Tony beats Mado up for going with this other guy.With Mado now out of his life, Tony decides to accept Mario's plan but instead of a simply 'smash-and-grab' of the jeweler's store window, he proposes knocking off a safe in the apartment above the jewelry store. Mario's friend, the Italian-speaking Cesar (played by director Dassin himself) is brought in to complete the team. The gang goes through a rehearsal before committing the crime itself. This mainly involves de-arming the sophisticated alarm system. I'm not sure if we needed all the pre-heist rehearsals, particularly because much of it is repeated during the actual heist itself (I'm thinking particularly of the spraying of the fire retardant foam into the alarm box, which appears to be rather redundant and anti-climactic).Nonetheless the bulk of the heist scene is particularly noteworthy due to its having been shot without any dialogue. Also quite remarkable is the way in which an umbrella is utilized to prevent the alarm from going off, during the burglary. To my surprise, this was actually based on a crime involving a travel agency break-in, dating back to 1899!After the heist is committed, the plot takes a few other clever twists and turns. The gang is undone by the simple greed of Cesar, who pilfers a small diamond ring for his girlfriend. Grutter and company get wind of this, and end up murdering Mario and his girlfriend (another shocking scene of violence in the film), in an attempt to extort information from Jo, as to the whereabouts of the very expensive jewels, taken from the jewel company's safe. I wonder why, however, Grutter's gang failed to ransack Mario's apartment, before giving up on trying to find the jewels.After Tony finds a tied-up Cesar (captured by Grutter), he reluctantly murders him in revenge for violating the 'code of silence' between thieves. It's said that this represented Dassin's feelings toward colleagues who betrayed other colleagues during the blacklist era.The plot races toward its inevitable conclusion after Grutter kidnaps Jo's son and holds him as ransom for the jewels. Tony tells Jo to sit tight while he tracks down the kid. But Jo can't wait and meets Grutter with the cash they got from a fence for the jewels. Inevitably Grutter kills Jo and is about to make off with the jewels when Tony shows up (somehow Mado had heard that Grutter had swiped Jo's son and knew where he was). With information provided by Mado, Tony indeed tracks Grutter down and after being seriously wounded, shoots and kills Grutter (why Grutter doesn't make sure Tony is dead, before attempting to make his get away), seems a bit far-fetched. Despite his crimes, Tony performs the great sacrifice by driving Jo's son all the way back home, before he expires, with a suitcase stuffed with millions, in the backseat.'Rififi' has all the ingredients of an engaging, taut, film noir. Particularly notable is the great on-location cinematography, sure-fire editing, very believable performances by some lesser-known actors as well as director Dassin's determination not to tone down the violent scenes in order to mollify a few prurient filmgoers. 'Rififi' suffers from a few flat notes including the long-winded 'heist rehearsal' as well as a number of (aformentioned) questionable plot contrivances, that don't always add up.Overall, 'Rififi' is a pretty, solid noir. Jules Dassin was said to have regretted only the use of the song that bore the film's title. Dassin didn't want to use any music at all but was somehow talked into using the out of place song 'Rififi'. The title translates as 'rough and tumble'—a rather trite allusion to the overall atmosphere the film engenders.