Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Brilliant and touching

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Jean Gabin's posture has never been better in this twist on the one-last-caper flick.In this story, Gabin already has his mitts on the loot; he's just trying to hold on to it so he can retire.However, less sophisticated and crafty goons figure they can kidnap Gabin's dimwitted partner and ransom him off for the dough. Only problem is Gabin's character wouldn't let the dirty rats get away with a scheme like that and in the end everybody's machinations literally go up in smoke.Gabin is always interesting to watch and I can't fault his performance here but it's hard to see how a film like this could have resuscitated his career. It's rather standard shlock, although one can see how later American film directors like Coppola and Scorsese might have been influenced by it. (A scene involving the torture of a young hood has had many incarnations in later crime movies.) It was interesting to see beautiful Jeanne Moreau in an early role here, this time playing a scared and weak moll, a stunning contrast to her "Jules and Jim" star turn in the Sixties. One thing I did not get was the peculiar bedroom scene with what looked to be a higher-class woman all dressed up like a Barbie doll at a lawn party. What was that all about? Gag alert: Watch for the scene in this film in which a bartender commits an act that should inject paranoia into anyone who goes out to eat. Yich!

I feel so inadequate even attempting to discuss this movie. But I'll give it a try. For those who haven't seen Touchez pas au grisbi, it's the story of an aging gangster named Max (played to perfection by Jean Gabin). With the help of his partner Riton (also played to perfection by René Dary), Max has just pulled off the biggest caper of his career and is now set to retire. But a few of the other local thugs have other ideas. They kidnap Riton and offer to a trade him for the loot.While that may be the five sentence review of the plot's highlights, the robbery and subsequent kidnapping are hardly what the movie is all about. These are merely devices to push the plot along. Instead, Touchez pas au grisbi is about the never ending friendship between two people. It's about willing to forfeit a fortune if it means saving your best friend. It's about their day-to-day lives, the nightclubs they visit, the women they use, and, in one of the more bizarre moments, even their dental hygiene habits. While it hardly sounds glamorous, it's one of the more compelling movies I've seen recently. Max's life pulled me in to the point that it almost seemed real. Director Jacques Becker lets the viewer really get to know these two guys so that later on when the pair finds themselves in danger, we feel for them.Touchez pas au grisbi may not be action-packed, but when the violence does come, it's jolting in its abruptness. While the shootout near the end of the film is an obvious example, there's a moment earlier on in the movie that shows how abrupt and effective the violence in Touchez pas au grisbi is. Max has located Riton's girlfriend who he believes to be at least partially responsible for Riton's kidnapping. Up to this point, with a few very minor and brief exceptions, Max has hardly seemed capable of excessive violence. Up to this point, he's come across almost as a kindly Grandfather. But when Max confronts the girlfriend, we see what he is capable of. The rough manner in which he handles everyone in the room, including repeatedly slapping the girl to get the information he's after, is quite shocking. It's a scene that's very nicely done.In the end, Touchez pas au grisbi is a true masterpiece that deserves all the accolades it has received. I know it's one of the best movies I've ever seen.

Jacques Becker 1954 "Touchez pas au grisbi" is a delight to watch. M. Becker was an artist that knew what to give his fans, as he clearly shows in this masterful account about the gangsters operating in Paris during the fifties. Becker and his cinematographer, Pierre Montazel, brought the cameras to the streets as we are taken to savor that underworld they operated from. The jazzy score by Jean Wiener works well in the film. The film shows us the bygone Paris of that period, beautifully photographed by M. Montazel in all its splendor.At the center of it all is Max, the older gangster who suddenly begins feeling the toll of his years living dangerously and is contemplating retirement after he, and his partner, Riton, get rid of the gold bars they have stolen from a shipment at Orly airport. Max and Riton are seen at the beginning of the film dining at Chez Bouche with two younger women, Josy and Lola, who are chorus girls in the night club that seems to be the venue where these characters like to frequent.Things get complicated when Josie tells the newly arrived Angelo about what Max and Riton have and the trouble starts as he wants to get to the stolen goods for his own benefit. Thus begins a conflict between two different factions of the underground that will end badly. Max's plans for retirement with the proceeds of the sale of the stolen gold will have to wait.The best thing about the film is the uncanny way M. Becker and his collaborators reproduce that era for us. The world of the night clubs, restaurants, watering places, apartments, and other places where these characters move, are faithfully recreated for our pleasure in the movie. This film noir influenced a lot of other movies that came after, as Becker's influence inspired future movie makers.Jean Gabin, probably the best French actor of all times makes us like his Max, even though we realize he is a criminal. M. Gabin is the whole reason for taking a look at this film that he dominates at all times. Rene Dary, is seen as Max's partner in crime, Riton. Jeanne Moreau in one of her earlier films shows why she went to be one of the stars of the French cinema. Her Josie is excellent. Also in the cast, the fabulous Lino Ventura who plays Angelo. Denise Clair plays Mme. Bouche and Dora Doll is Lola."Touchez pas au grisbi" will not disappoint Becker's fans.

The title of this French film noir is slang for "loot". Jean Gabin stars as racketeer Max. Seeking out the finer things in life, Max intends to pull one last job and retire. After stealing a fortune in gold, our hero is faced with a crisis of conscience when his best friend (Rene Dary) is kidnapped and held for a huge ransom, the proceeds of this last job. Max manages to turn the tables on the abductors, but his dreams of a life of ease explode in his face. Up-and-coming leading lady Jeanne Moreau plays a pivotal role as the femme fatale who leads Dary into the hands of his kidnappers.An intriguing film that inverts many of the film noir cliches. The heist which drives the film's plot has already occurred when the film starts, which has the effect of shifting the film's focus from the crime itself to the consequences of leading a life of crime. The characters are portrayed less like criminals than businessmen, calmly going about the business of earning a living. As a result, the few scenes of violence that occur are more shocking than they would be in a more routine crime film. An intriguing film that clearly influenced subsequent French crime films, especially Jules Dassin's "Rififi" and Jean-Pierre Melville's "Bob le Flambeur".