Le Cercle Rouge

Jean-Pierre Meville's 1970 film <i>Le Cercle rouge</i> (The Red Circle) is a crime caper based on the interplay of several initially unacquainted individuals. As Melville's fake quote from the Buddha that serves as the intertitle goes, "When men, even unknowingly, are to meet one day, whatever may befall each, whatever the diverging paths, on the said day, they will inevitably come together in the red circle." These men are Corey (Alain Delon), who has just been released from prison, Vogel (Gian Maria Volonté), who has escaped from his police guard before he could even reach prison, and the alcoholic marksman Jansen (Yves Montand). In the jewelry heist that these desparate lowlifes plan together, they are pursued by the detective Mattei (An...

Though it takes quite a while to get going, and I constantly wanted to rub that annoying moustache from the face of Alain Delon ("Corey") I really rather enjoyed this crime caper. Delon recruits the dapper ex-cop with a drink problem - "Jansen" (Yves Montand), and the recently escaped "Vogel" (Gian Maria Volontè) into his plan to rob an exclusive Parisian jewellers. Situated on the top floor of a town house with state of the art security, they must recce the scene and use all of their initiative and ingenuity to crack the systems and pinch - and dispose of - $20 million worth of loot. Simultaneously, a couple of hoodlums are chasing "Corey" after he relieved his former boss of some cash, and the police - led by accomplished copper "Mattei" ...