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Classe Tous Risques

1960, Movie, NR, 90 mins

Classe Tous Risques: Review

CLASSE TOUS RISQUES | BIG RISK, THE | CONSIDER ALL RISKS
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Claude Sautet's tough, desolate Euro-noir thriller, based on French-Swiss crime writer Jose Giovanni's bleak novel about dishonor among thieves, opened in the wake of New Wave bombshell BREATHLESS (1959) — which also featured Jean-Paul Belmondo and imbued American crime-movie conventions with a distinctly European sensibility — and then faded into undeserved obscurity. Condemned to death in absentia, aging French gangster Abel Davos (Lino Ventura) has been on the run for years, living in Italy with his wife, Therese (Simone France, Giovanni's sister), and their small children, Pierrot and Daniel (Robert Desnoux, Thierry Lavoye). But he wants to go home and agrees to pull off a Milan payroll heist with old friend Raymond Naldi (Stan Krol) to finance his family's return. The robbery goes off fine but the getaway is a disaster. Davos and Naldi barely elude custody and rendezvous with Therese and the kids in San Remo, where they hijack a sightseeing boat. Then their run of bad luck continues: Customs agents spot them coming ashore in France, and in the ensuing shoot-out, Therese, Naldi and both officers are killed. Davos makes his way to Nice with the children and starts calling in markers from old friends. Local hotelier Bénazet (Charles Blavette) surreptitiously gives them a room, and Riton (Michel Ardan) — whose thriving bistro Davos bankrolled — promises to gather the old gang and figure out a way to get Davos from Nice to Paris. But the old gang isn't what it used to be — Riton's wife wants him to sever all ties with his criminal past, and former safecracker Fargier (Michèle Méritz), whom Davos once got out of jail, now owns a swank hotel and scrupulously maintains the appearance of respectability. Only loyal Jeannot (Philippe March) — who is, not coincidentally, the least successful of the three — wants to leave for Nice immediately, but he can't because he's out on bail and under constant supervision. Fargier grudgingly buys an ambulance so Davos can be transported in the guise of a critically ill patient, while Riton scrounges around and finds a driver, Eric Stark (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a total stranger who ultimately proves a better friend to Davos than any of the rest. Shot shortly after BREATHLESS wrapped, CLASSE TOUS RISQUES was widely damned with faint praise. But while BREATHLESS' formal innovations now look very much of a time, CLASSE TOUS RISQUES feels astonishingly fresh, filled with subtle performances and devastatingly understated images — Sautet's final shot of Davos alone in a Paris crowd is a killer. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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