Summary
Max and Riton are two ageing gangsters who manage to pull of their final heist, a spectacular
gold bullion robbery at Orly airport. All is well until Max’s former girlfriend
Josy tips of a rival gangster, Angelo. The latter kidnaps Riton and threatens to
kill him unless Max hands over the spoils from his robbery....
Review
Although not quite in the league of Jacques Becker’s best films, Touchez pas au grisbi
occupies an important placing in French cinema history. Firstly, it firmly re-established
Jean Gabin as a leading figure in French cinema after his temporary decline into near-obscurity
during the 1940s. More significantly, it established the crime thriller as a major
genre in French cinema, creating a template which would be followed in dozens of other
films in the following decade.
The genre derived from the film noir of 1940s American cinema, epitomised by such films
as the Maltese Falcon. Many French film directors of the 1950s and 1960s
(including some of the very best, most notably Jean-Pierre Melville and François
Truffaut) were almost obsessed by the genre and sought to re-invent the formula in their
films. The result was the film policier or polar, a sophisticated European transposition
of the tough gangster thriller.
It is interesting to note how many subsequent French films refer back to Becker’s Touchez
pas au grisbi. The perfect spectacular robbery which goes unexpectedly awry,
often through the betrayal of a female character. The ensuing battle of wills between
rival gun-toting factions. And the inevitable shoot-out. The formula may appear
trite by today’s standards but it was remarkably popular at the time and a surprising
number of these films have gone on to be regarded as genine classics.
What particularly marks out Touchez pas au grisbi as a great film in its own right
is the formidable presence of Jean Gabin, who plays the indominatable gangster, Max.
This is the kind of role with which Gabin would become most associated with after World
War II: the unfaltering, confident, often taciturn anti-hero, the Godfather of French
cinema. This is a total contast to the beau tragic hero which made Gabin a household
name in France in the 1930s.
This film also features Lino Ventura, a former wrestler who would become a popular actor
best known for his tough gangster roles, and a young Jeanne Moreau, destined to become
one of France's best known actresses.
With all these ingredients, Jacques Becker could hardly fail to make a great film.
The subject matter is pure B movie material, but Becker brings an artistry and flair which
makes the film appear years ahead of its time.
© James Travers 2001
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