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Rififi
Du rififi chez les hommes
1955 · Film · 118 min
Directed by Jules Dassin
Out of prison after a five-year stretch, jewel thief Tony turns down a quick job his friend Jo offers him, until he discovers that his old girlfriend Mado has become the lover of local gangster Pierre Grutter during Tony's absence. Expanding a minor smash-and-grab into a full-scale jewel heist, Tony and his crew appear to get away clean, but their actions after the job is completed threaten the lives of everyone involved.
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2 comments on Hacker News
Second the recommendation. Excellent movie, and excellently played by Sutherland opposite Connery.
Interestingly enough, I think The Great Train Robbery may have been one of the first Michael Crichton books adapted to film? https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0079240/ (check: nope, preceded by both Westworld and Andromeda Strain)
I went on a jog through historical heist films, and there's some amazing older stuff, e.g. Rififi (1955).
The rififcoup!
So named for the fabulous film Rififi, in which burglars rented an apartment, then drilled through the ceiling to the floor below. This was a direct reference to the French criminal anarchist Alexandre Marius Jacob who famously carried out just such an attack in the early 20th century. At his trial (for murder, among other things) he uttered one of my favorite quotes. He was asked what had become of him, he had traveled the world as a sailor, he was educated, how had he become a murderous anarchist. To which he replied:
"I have seen the world. It is not beautiful."