Rififi

345. RIFIFI (1955-France). Written and directed by JULES DASSIN. Music by GEORGES AURIC. With JEAN SERVAIS, CARL MOHNER, PERLO VITA (DASSIN). One Of the most famous caper movies Of alt time-along with “The Asphalt Jungle,” this brilliantly filmed drama set the standards for all others to follow-A group Of daring thieves plan and carry out a complicated, perfectly-timed robbery Of a jewelry store. Director-writer Jutes Dassin carefully sets up the pre-robbery events, focusing on a young man who needs money for his family, and an older criminal, who’s just been released from a five-year stretch and is bitter because his girlfriend has taken up with a rival gangster. Along with an expert safecracker and others, they break into an apartment above the jewelry store, dig a hole through the floor, ingeniously disarm the supposedly foolproOf “Super alarm” system (which is triggered by the slightest disturbance anywhere in the store), and penetrate the massive safe. The robbery sequence, as precisely executed as the crime itself, runs about thirty minutes without a single word Of dialogue-something for which the film has always been justly praised. The suspense is heart- slopping: the absolute silence (punctuated by appropriate sound effects) becomes as deafening as a roar. Seldom has a movie gotten the audience so thoroughly involved with the mechanics Of a crime, or with the fate Of the criminals. And unlike most films Of the genre, the caper’s aftermath is hardly anti-climactic. In fact, the suspense even intensifies a rival gangster and his heinous henchmen attempt to obtain the loot through torture, child kidnapping and murder. When the movie was first released, the ads proclaimed, “Rififi Means Danger!” “Rififi also means the ultimate in meaningful film technique and gripping crime adventure. The sound track contains slight crosstalk in spots. In French with English subtitles. 110 minutes. Crime Drama