2/1/2024 0 Comments Red circleCinematographer Henri Decaë is able to give technicolor a noir look. Taking a page (well, multiple pages) from the classic heist pictures “Rififi” (which he had originally been scheduled to direct) and his own “Bob Le Flaneur,” Melville uses extensive periods of silence to convey the tension. Melville’s plotting is outstanding the characters are fully developed in multiple shades of gray and the dialogue is crisp. The curved line is showing signs of what it will inevitably become when everyone and everything collides.īourvil as Mattei in “The Red Circle.” Photo courtesy of Rialto Pictures. Primary among them is nightclub owner Santi who swears he knows nothing, though Corey and Jansen met in his bar. He begins to apply intense pressure on his network of informants for any word on Vogel’s whereabouts. Mattei is unconcerned with the threats of his superior it is a matter of extreme pride that he catch Vogel. His risk will be exceptional so they will have to be content with paying him a much higher percentage than usual. They have their gang and now need to prearrange a fence, who declares that the contraband will be very hot. Vogel is tough, cold blooded and fearless, but he’s not a sharp shooter he does, however, know one-a derelict ex-cop named Jansen. When Corey encounters escapee Vogel, the wheels start to turn. Coincidentally, or perhaps not really, that car belongs to Corey who has stopped along the way for a meal. Vogel, on the run, hides himself in an unlocked car trunk in the parking lot of a diner. When Corey is able to “borrow” money from Ricco at gunpoint, there will be retribution, and probably blood. But Ricco, proclaiming loyalty and gratitude to the high heavens, has betrayed Corey at every opportunity. All he needs are a couple of trust worthy partners, one of whom is a sharp shooter.īut first Corey needs getaway money and goes to the home of the man for whom he took the prison sentence, Ricco. He has inside information on the weaknesses of the security system at a major jewelry boutique. But before he goes, the guard knows of a “job” that will be perfect for him in Paris. At that very moment in a Marseille prison, a guard arrives at the cell of Corey, a thief near the end of his five year term, with news that he will be released the next morning. Back in Paris, Mattei is excoriated and threatened with prosecution by the Chief of Internal Affairs who believes there are no accidents, only deliberate actions. Vogel manages to escape and disappears into thin air. Police Captain Mattei is escorting recently captured criminal Vogel back to Paris on the night train from Marseille. Melville audaciously plays his hand at the very beginning with a quote from the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, “When men, even unknowingly, are to meet one day, whatever may befall each, whatever their diverging paths, on the said day, they will inevitably come together in the red circle.” If you don’t know this 1970 film by the director who was one of the primary influences on the New Wave film movement of the 60’s, you’re in for a real treat. “The Red Circle” (“Le Cercle Rouge”), the stunning heist film by the master director-writer Jean-Pierre Melville, has been given a 4K restoration by Studiocanal and a re-release by Rialto Pictures.
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