Touchez Pas au Grisbi ***** (1954, Jean Gabin, Jeanne Moreau, Lino Ventura, Gaby Basset, Daniel Cauchy, René Dary, Dora Doll, Paul Frankeur) – Classic Movie Review 5007

A sad and smokey bitter-sweet Gallic atmosphere of tired desperation pervades co-writer/ director Jacques Becker’s 1954 wry classic French noir gangster crime thriller.

A movie based on Albert Simonin’s novel was always going to be good, but it is lifted a couple more notches higher by the luminous star presence of Jean Gabin as Max le Menteur, one of a gang of crooks who has stolen eight gold bars of 12 kg each worth 50 million francs, along with his best friend Riton (René Dary) and hidden them away for their retirement. But Riton is kidnapped and their stash of gold bars is demanded as ransom.

Lino Ventura also stars in his film début as Max’s rival, the dangerous gangster Angelo, who would murder to find the loot (grisbi). A young Jeanne Moreau plays cabaret dancer Josy, Riton’s mistress, who has found a new lover in Angelo.

Ventura and Moreau complete the star trio and their casting also helps to complete the ideal lowlife crook movie panorama.

Director Becker and his fellow script-writers Albert Simonin and Maurice Griffe whip up the atmosphere and suspense, while turning their attention to tackling the themes of loyalty and treachery, and the character study of man desperately staving off the onset of old age.

Gabin won Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival in 1954 for his archetypal world-weary performance.

Also in the cast are Gaby Basset, Daniel Cauchy, Paul Frankeur, Dora Doll, Vittorio Sanipoli, Marilyn Bufferd, Paul Barge, Alain Bouvette, Denise Clair, Angelo Dessy, Michel Jourdan, Paul Oettly, Jean Riveyre, Delia Scala, Silvestri and Lucilla Solivani.

It is also known as Grisbi, Honour Among Thieves and Hands Off the Loot.

Jeanne Moreau (1928–2017).

RIP legendary screen icon Jeanne Moreau. Her film career stared in 1949, but Louis Malle made her a star in Elevator to the Gallows (1958) and The Lovers (1958),

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5007

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