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In Jean-Pierre Melville's world, cops and robbers are separated by a very thin line called the law and connected by a much thicker line of respect. Women are nowhere to be found except as distractions or bad memories. And the most intricate heists imaginable are executed by men dressed in trench coats and Armani suits. Though Melville, the director of such works as Le Samourai and Bob Le Flambeur, died in 1973, his legacy lives on in the work of such filmmakers as John Woo and David Mamet.

Beginning this Friday you have a chance to catch up with one of Melville's lesser-known works, Le Cercle Rouge. It stars the incomparable Alain Delon as a man named Corey who's just been released from prison, though under dubious circumstances. He's been granted early parole in exchange for pulling off a jewel store robbery for a crooked prison guard. On his way back to Paris, he meets up with Vogel (Gian Maria Volonte), a criminal who's just escaped from police detective Captain Mattei (Andrei Bourvil), who was transporting him via train. Mattei isn't one to let his man get away, so he sets up a massive roadblock network. But Vogel stashes away in Corey's trunk, and the two make their way to Paris. Could this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship?

It doesn't take much convincing to get Vogel in on the heist, and he suggests master marksmen Jansen (Yves Montand), a former cop, as the third in their band. Jansen has a drug problem, but he's anxious for any kind of productive work, so he leaps at the chance. Hot on their trail is the indomitable Mattei, who resorts to some dirty games of his own--blackmailing a nightclub owner, framing the owner's son--to get his information. The game of cat-and-mouse comes to a standstill for the grand heist. This largely silent, beautifully filmed sequence is reminiscent of the big score in Rififi, though this one's not quite as intricate. I won't spoil the outcome for you, but I assure you it's a treat for any fan of the genre.

Coincidentally, on the same day I saw Le Cercle Rouge I happened to catch up with The Good Thief, Neil Jordan's remake of Bob Le Flambeur starring Nick Nolte. Though I thoroughly enjoyed both films, I did so for vastly different reasons.

In The Good Thief, it's all about Nolte, who's just getting better with age. His sardonic line deliveries are fantastic. He responds to a simple question like "Remember the '80s?" with a simple word that made me burst out in laughter. I know my friend Garth had a hard time understanding him in places, but I found his world-weary performance to be one of the best of the year so far. I better not start writing about newcomer Nutsa Kukhianidze, who plays Nolte's love interest,  as my drool might ruin the computer. Unfortunately, the secondary characters are nowhere near as good. Bosnian director Emir Kusturica has a fun turn as a security expert turned security threat, but the rest of the cast lets the movie down. In Le Cercle Rouge, the acting is uniformly strong. Alain Delon personifies French existential cool, so it's no surprise that he gives a magnetic performance. But Andre Bourvil is a revelation as the cop hot on his trail. And Yves Montand is wonderful as a man pulling a big score for the sheer camaraderie of it all. When he walks down the street, gun in his violin case, trench coat on his back, it's an iconic image.

Neil Jordan's script for The Good Thief is packed with one-liners and funny metaphors. Melville's script for Le Cercle Rouge might not have more than a couple hundred lines of dialogue. As Captain Mattei says of the thieves, "They're not much for talk." And therein lies one of the fundamental differences between Melville's universe and today's heist films. Melville, backed up by stock cinematographer Henri Decae, is able to construct an entire scene with just gorgeous photography, crisp editing, and the occasional reaction shot. Neil Jordan has to rely on Nolte's charismatic performance and snappy dialogue, which means that the movie suffers during the action sequences. Another contrast is that Le Cercle Rouge features only one female character, and she's reduced to being the subject of a discarded photograph. The Good Thief might only have one woman in it, but she's a central character and one that becomes more important at the movie's conclusion. Though the original Bob Le Flambeur also featured a much too young female character, her role became less significant as the movie went on. It would've been unthinkable to Melville for the woman to steal the man away from his compatriots or even from his pursuing doppleganger. In Hollywood it would be unthinkable for the hero not to get the girl. Vive la difference.   

J. Robert Parks   5/22/2003