Tony is the one, the typical noire protagonist always trying to find a window of light with little success. He is on the verge of absolute breakdown, a deserted gangster in an asphalt jungle with an uncontrollable urge to regain his leading role. the plot brings 3 other people around Tony with apparent different motivations. Jo, soon to become the muscle of the group-Mario, the connector who knows people and Cesar, the womanizer who's delicate hands know no boundaries. The tension reaches it's peak when Tony finds out his girlfriend, the only last asset left for him has been already snatched by his arch enemy Grutter. His manhood must be testified. the heist might be his last chance. A warehouse is where the plot is planned. All details seem to be heeded, however we instinctively know there is danger wherever women are involved. Rifif has no usual femme fatale like a typical noir must, instead there is a singer in Grutters club who performs a musical about a gangster who sounds quite similar with Tony. Ironically her relationship with Cesar becomes a key point later when Cesar gives her an extra jewel stolen from the webb's. The heist is a masterpiece when it comes to details in addition to little dialogue and dynamic flow. Everything makes sense: from the fire foam used to make the siren silent to the umbrella. Every step has been well-foreseen. the suspense reaches its heights as the drill penetrates through the chest. With a camera moving rapidly between the 4 faces and with almost no dialogue exchanged, we read through their faces all the hope and fear. the scene is so complete that makes the scene of sharing future plans total unnecessary. The battle must now be fought in another arena. We have been waiting for the final showdown between Tony and grutters. The extra stolen jewel starts a row of events. The movie is quite successful in fueling the set of events leading to the final showdown: Torture, Murder, reconciliation with mado, child in threat, showdown and finally death for all those involved. In the final scene, Tony the wounded wolf gives an infant whom he just saved a ride home, a ride through Paris with all of its monuments, buildings and people is a ride of redemption for Tony towards death.

The film is saved by a couple great sequences and a even greater ending. But the problem is the rest of the plot, which contains a dull narrative that we've seen hundreds of times since. Sure, subsequent films might be indebted to this, or other similar films, but that doesn't take away the fact that there are no surprises in this hard boiled crime caper for a modern audience. Another problem is the pacing which adds to the dullness. There are a couple sequences that stand out. The robbery sequence which is almost entirely silent and goes for what seems like twenty minutes, is very effective. Another sequence being a character driving a car after being injured, which uses a frenetic camera and chaotic music to intensify it. I'd recommend it to film buffs exclusively.

Rififi holds up extremely well for over 50 years. I just need to get something off my chest. If Jules Dassin didn't acknowledge the influence of John Huston's Asphalt Jungle, shame on him. Many film viewers consider Rififi the mother of the heist film, but that's giving Mr. Dassin more credit than he deserves. He does of course deserve credit for a wonderfully made movie, and especially for detailing the plan and action of the caper, using about 30 minutes of film time. Hollywood film makers might not have allowed that, but as a French film audiences are more patient. See the wonderful films of Robert Bresson. I do think, however, that the Dassin picture is a landmark in humanizing the criminal enterprise. Whether that's good or bad is arguable. It certainly reached out to influence the broad tolerance that we have for projects like The Sopranos. It was also a powerful enough film to change public attitude about the unfair treatment given Mr. Dassin and others black listed by the Hollywood establishment.

The director of 'Rififi', Jules Dassin, was down on his luck at the time he was asked to get involved with this gritty film noir. Dassin was a successful American director of film noirs up until the end of the 1940s when he was suddenly blacklisted during the days of the Senator Joe McCarthy witch hunts and barred from working in the United States. Speaking during a 2000 interview featured as part of the Criterion Collection's DVD extras, Dassin remarked that he was paid very little to direct 'Rififi' as the cast and crew also worked under an extremely low budget.'Rififi' is a very atmospheric film noir, shot intentionally under low light conditions. The plot revolves around a gang of jewel thieves led by Tony "le Stéphanois" (played by Jean Servais, a successful French actor in the 30s, whose career was in in decline at the time, due to alcoholism). Tony, just out of prison on a five year bid for a prior jewel heist, is approached by former pal, Jo, who proposes that they accept mutual friend Mario's plan to steal some jewels from a window display case of a prominent Parisian jewelry store. The plan is initially rejected by Tony who is preoccupied with his former girlfriend, Mado, who has taken up with a tough guy nightclub owner, Pierre Grutter. In the first of a number of scenes, craftily infused with a palpable, violent edge, Tony beats Mado up for going with this other guy.With Mado now out of his life, Tony decides to accept Mario's plan but instead of a simply 'smash-and-grab' of the jeweler's store window, he proposes knocking off a safe in the apartment above the jewelry store. Mario's friend, the Italian-speaking Cesar (played by director Dassin himself) is brought in to complete the team. The gang goes through a rehearsal before committing the crime itself. This mainly involves de-arming the sophisticated alarm system. I'm not sure if we needed all the pre-heist rehearsals, particularly because much of it is repeated during the actual heist itself (I'm thinking particularly of the spraying of the fire retardant foam into the alarm box, which appears to be rather redundant and anti-climactic).Nonetheless the bulk of the heist scene is particularly noteworthy due to its having been shot without any dialogue. Also quite remarkable is the way in which an umbrella is utilized to prevent the alarm from going off, during the burglary. To my surprise, this was actually based on a crime involving a travel agency break-in, dating back to 1899!After the heist is committed, the plot takes a few other clever twists and turns. The gang is undone by the simple greed of Cesar, who pilfers a small diamond ring for his girlfriend. Grutter and company get wind of this, and end up murdering Mario and his girlfriend (another shocking scene of violence in the film), in an attempt to extort information from Jo, as to the whereabouts of the very expensive jewels, taken from the jewel company's safe. I wonder why, however, Grutter's gang failed to ransack Mario's apartment, before giving up on trying to find the jewels.After Tony finds a tied-up Cesar (captured by Grutter), he reluctantly murders him in revenge for violating the 'code of silence' between thieves. It's said that this represented Dassin's feelings toward colleagues who betrayed other colleagues during the blacklist era.The plot races toward its inevitable conclusion after Grutter kidnaps Jo's son and holds him as ransom for the jewels. Tony tells Jo to sit tight while he tracks down the kid. But Jo can't wait and meets Grutter with the cash they got from a fence for the jewels. Inevitably Grutter kills Jo and is about to make off with the jewels when Tony shows up (somehow Mado had heard that Grutter had swiped Jo's son and knew where he was). With information provided by Mado, Tony indeed tracks Grutter down and after being seriously wounded, shoots and kills Grutter (why Grutter doesn't make sure Tony is dead, before attempting to make his get away), seems a bit far-fetched. Despite his crimes, Tony performs the great sacrifice by driving Jo's son all the way back home, before he expires, with a suitcase stuffed with millions, in the backseat.'Rififi' has all the ingredients of an engaging, taut, film noir. Particularly notable is the great on-location cinematography, sure-fire editing, very believable performances by some lesser-known actors as well as director Dassin's determination not to tone down the violent scenes in order to mollify a few prurient filmgoers. 'Rififi' suffers from a few flat notes including the long-winded 'heist rehearsal' as well as a number of (aformentioned) questionable plot contrivances, that don't always add up.Overall, 'Rififi' is a pretty, solid noir. Jules Dassin was said to have regretted only the use of the song that bore the film's title. Dassin didn't want to use any music at all but was somehow talked into using the out of place song 'Rififi'. The title translates as 'rough and tumble'—a rather trite allusion to the overall atmosphere the film engenders.