When French criminal Corey gets released from prison, he resolves to never return. He is quickly pulled back into the underworld, however, after a chance encounter with escaped murderer Vogel. Along with former policeman and current alcoholic Jansen, they plot an intricate jewel heist. All the while, quirky Police Commissioner Mattei, who was the one to lose custody of Vogel, is determined to find him.
Direction
Melville's minimalist staging—every frame is a crime in a museum.
Cinematography
Blues, grays, rain-slicked Paris streets—pure visual melancholy.
Editing
That wordless heist sequence: tension built entirely through cuts.
Director
Jean-Pierre Melville
Alain Delon
Corey
Bourvil
Commissioner François Mattei
Gian Maria Volonté
Vogel
Yves Montand
Jansen
François Périer
Santi
Paul Crauchet
The Receiver
André Ekyan
Rico
Paul Amiot
Marchand, Inspector General of Police
Pierre Collet
Prison Guard
Jean-Pierre Posier
Mattei's Assistant
Yves Arcanel
Committing magistrate
René Berthier
Judiciary Police Director
Anna Douking
Corey's old girlfriend
Jean-Marc Boris
Jean-Marc, Santi's Son
Robert Favart
Salesman at Mauboussin
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Melville invented the 'Buddha' epigraph entirely; no such text exists in Buddhist scripture.
This is the film that taught Michael Mann how to shoot men in rooms with coffee.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
FR
