Classe tous risques (1960)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Claude Sautet

Writers:

José Giovanni (novel)
Claude Sautet (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

1 April 1960 (Italy)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Abel Davis is a criminal, hunted in Italy. The police are closing in, so he and his pal Raymond arrange to flee back to France with Abel's wife...

Plot Keywords:

Paris | Friend | Children | Robbery | Escape

Cast

Lino Ventura	...	Abel Davos
Sandra Milo	...	Liliane
Jean-Paul Belmondo	...	Eric Stark
Marcel Dalio	...	Arthur Gibelin
Michel Ardan	...	Riton Vintran
Simone France	...	Therese Davos
Michèle Méritz	...	Sophie Fargier
Stan Krol	...	Raymond
Evelyne Ker
Betty Schneider	...	La petite bonne
France Asselin	...	Madame Vintran
Jean-Pierre Zola		(as J.P. Zola)
Sylvain Lévignac
Jeanne Pérez	...	Jacqueline Chapuis
René Génin	...	Chapuis

Also Known As:

Asfalto che scotta (Italy)
The Big Risk (USA)

Runtime:

France:110 min | USA:103 min | West Germany:105 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

Italian | French

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:G | Finland:(Banned) (1961-1968) | Finland:K-16 | West Germany:18 (nf)

Filming Locations:

Milan, Lombardia, Italy

Company:

Mondex Films

Movie Connections:

Featured in Claude Sautet ou La magie invisible (2003)

as solid as they come, and if you can find it on the big screen, go!

The film Classe tous risques directed by Claude Sautet was not a film, to be honest, I had ever really heard of until the Film Forum in NYC said that they would have a 2-week screening of the film, with new English subtitles. When I also read that it was in the vein of the classic French crime films ala Jean Pierre Melville, I jumped at the chance to check it out (at best it would rank up with his great works, and at worst I would get some good popcorn in a great theater). It was well worth the admission, as Classe tous risques is one of those kinds of French films that is just waiting to be re-discovered (or discovered for the first time). With terrific, tense diligence, Sautet keeps the suspense at a tight pitch for the first forty minutes of the film, keeping a good (if not great) middle section, and then ending it up with what is always expected with these films, but with fascinating motivations by way of the characters. With a film in the vein of this sort, you know how it will end, but it's the cool, observant journey that counts.

The film features a performance with some real truth and honesty, amid the "old-school" criminal's code, by Lino Ventura as Aldo, who at the start of the film (one of the best beginnings to a film in this genre and country) steals a hefty amount of money with his partner in crime). When there is a sudden, ugly twist of fate on a beach late one night, Aldo is again on the run with two little kids. He gets the aid of Eric Stark (Jean-Paul Belmondo, a role in tune with Le Doulos only with a smidgen more humanity and charisma), who is also a thief and drives him into Paris. But there are some problems with some of Aldo's old business partner's, and one old score may be just the right ticket. A couple of times the plot may seem to be leisurely, but it isn't. Like Melville, Sautet doesn't allow any fat to his story, and it's a very tightly structured film, with some good doses of humor here and there (I was sometimes grinning at the audacity of the criminals in the beginning chase sequence, and also with a particular woman who had a finicky thing with her cat and a fish).

Along with a fine score by the great George Delerue, exceptional cinematography, and a mood that is seldom met let alone matched now adays, Classe tous risques is a reminder of that bridge between the real old-school film-noir, and the latter day crime films. Gangsters in these new sort of "thug-life" movies have a 1000th of the class and honor of the thieves in this film, and is a second banana to the works of Melville and Jules Dassin (a compliment I assure you). That it has a good realistic, moral edge helps as well.