Rififi

For the episode of The Americans, see Rififi (The Americans).

Rififi
Movie poster illustrates Tony "le Stephanois" wearing a green jacket over a red background. In the background Jo "le Suédois" attempts to pull a telephone away from his wife. Text at the top of the image includes the tagline "Tony le Stephanois est exact au rendez-vous...". Text at the bottom of the poster reveals the original title and production credits.
Film poster with original French title
Directed byJules Dassin
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyPhilippe Agostini
Edited byRoger Dwyre
Music byGeorges Auric
Distributed byPathé (France)
Release date
  • 13 April 1955 (1955-04-13)
Running time
115 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Budget$200,000[1][2]

Rififi (French: Du rififi chez les hommes[a]) is a 1955 French crime film adaptation of Auguste Le Breton's novel of the same name. Directed by American blacklisted filmmaker Jules Dassin, the film stars Jean Servais as the aging gangster Tony "le Stéphanois", Carl Möhner as Jo "le Suédois", Robert Manuel as Mario Farrati, and Jules Dassin as César "le Milanais". The foursome band together to commit an almost impossible theft, the burglary of an exclusive jewelry shop in the Rue de la Paix. The centerpiece of the film is an intricate half-hour heist scene depicting the crime in detail, shot in near silence, without dialogue or music. The fictional burglary has been mimicked by criminals in actual crimes around the world.[5][6]

After he was blacklisted from Hollywood, Dassin found work in France where he was asked to direct Rififi. Despite his distaste for parts of the original novel, Dassin agreed to direct the film. He shot Rififi while working with a low budget, without a star cast, and with the production staff working for low wages.[2]

Upon the initial release of the film, it received positive reactions from audiences and critics in France, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The film earned Dassin the award for Best Director at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.[7] Rififi was nominated by the National Board of Review for Best Foreign Film. Rififi was re-released theatrically in both 2000 and 2015[8] and is still highly acclaimed by modern film critics as one of the greatest works in French film noir.[9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference production notes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Ebert, Roger (6 October 2000). "Rififi (1954)". Chicago Sun-Times.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference la times2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Le Nouveau Petit Robert, dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française ISBN 2-85036-668-4 and Le Petit Larousse illustré ISBN 2-03-530206-4.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference newspaperarchive was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Powrie71 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Rififi". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  8. ^ Rialto Pictures (6 August 2015). "RIFIFI - Trailer". Vimeo. Vimeo, LLC. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Truffaut209 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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