This film stands out in the french new wave of film making. Director Claude Lelouch creates a richly inventive, powerfully captivating action/western/thriller/gangster movie.What truly stands out in this meticulously crafted film is the intense and amazing narrative structure it presents. Gradually showing the rise of a french hoodlum gang to the ranks of sadistic merciless killers and robbers, the film shows a wide range of emotions; humor, shame, amazement, fear and thrills...Filmed in a very simplistic manner, (almost in a documentary format), this is a very surprising and complex picture....The acting isn't as brilliant as the superb cinematography in which they (the actors) play. The lighting is pure and not too obvious.. The camera zooms and angles are magnificent and intricately performed..A mesmerizing and strong film worth seeing again and again.........!!!!