''Le Casse'' (US title: ''The Burglars'') is a 1971 French-Italian
neo noir crime film directed by director
Henri Verneuil
Henri Verneuil (; born Ashot Malakian; 15 October 1920 – 11 January 2002) was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who made a successful career in France. He was nominated for Oscar and Palme d'Or awards, and won Locarno International ...
and starring
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (; 9 April 19336 September 2021) was a French actor and producer. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward. His best known credits ...
and
Omar Sharif. It is based on the 1953 novel by
David Goodis
David Loeb Goodis (March 2, 1917 – January 7, 1967) was an American writer of crime fiction noted for his output of short stories and novels in the noir fiction genre. Born in Philadelphia, Goodis alternately resided there and in New York Cit ...
and revolves around a team of four burglars chased by a corrupt policeman in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
. It's a remake of the 1957 film ''
The Burglar'' with
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress, singer, nightclub entertainer, and ''Playboy'' Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s while under contract at 20th Century Fox, Man ...
.
The movie is known for its spectacular car chase and Belmondo's incredible fall from a construction truck down a steep, rocky hillside. The movie was shot twice, once in French and once in English, by the same cast.
Plot
In Athens, Azad (
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (; 9 April 19336 September 2021) was a French actor and producer. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward. His best known credits ...
), Ralph (
Robert Hossein
Robert Hossein (30 December 1927 – 31 December 2020) was a French film actor, director, and writer. He directed the 1982 adaptation of ''Les Misérables'' and appeared in '' Vice and Virtue'', '' Le Casse'', '' Les Uns et les Autres'' and '' ...
) and 2 other accomplices, Renzi and Helen, steal a suitcase of
emeralds
Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p. ...
from a rich Greek citizen, M.Tasco, when the latter is away on vacation.
The thieves break into the house, manage to open the safe, and escape with the jewels. A police detective, Abel Zacharia (
Omar Sharif), spots the burglars’ car in front of the house. Azad chats with the detective telling a cover story of being a salesman with engine trouble. Zacharia leaves and Azad thinks he has gotten away with it.
The thieves plan to leave the country immediately on a merchant ship. However when they arrive at the dock they discover the ship is undergoing repairs and will not be ready for five days. They hide the money, split up, and agree to wait out the delay.
Zacharia reappears, having decided to find and keep the emeralds himself. Azad falls in love with Lena.
Zacharia identifies the thieves and kills Renzi, seeing to it that Ralph seems guilty of the crime.
Azad narrowly escapes the police with Lena, but he soon discovers that she is conspiring with Zacharia.
Ralph is arrested by police.
Azad and Zacharia have a confrontation which results in Zacharia being buried under wheat.
Cast
*
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (; 9 April 19336 September 2021) was a French actor and producer. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward. His best known credits ...
as Azad
*
Omar Sharif as Abel Zacharia
*
Dyan Cannon
Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen; January 4, 1937) is an American actress, director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. Her accolades include a Saturn Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Award nominations, and a star on the Holly ...
as Lena Gripp's
*
Robert Hossein
Robert Hossein (30 December 1927 – 31 December 2020) was a French film actor, director, and writer. He directed the 1982 adaptation of ''Les Misérables'' and appeared in '' Vice and Virtue'', '' Le Casse'', '' Les Uns et les Autres'' and '' ...
as Ralph
*
Nicole Calfan
Nicole Calfan (born 4 March 1947) is a French actress and author.
Filmography
Theater
Author
References
External links
*
1947 births
Living people
Actresses from Paris
French film actresses
French television actresses
Frenc ...
as Helene
*
Myriam Feune de Colombi as Isabelle Tasco (as Myriam Colombi)
* Raoul Delfosse as Le gardien de la villa Tasco
*
José Luis de Vilallonga
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ).
In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...
as Tasco
*
Renato Salvatori
Renato Salvatori (20 March 1933 – 27 March 1988) was an Italian actor.
Born in Seravezza, Province of Lucca, Salvatori began his career in his teens playing juvenile, romantic roles. After working with directors such as Luchino Visconti, Ro ...
as Renzi
Production
''The Burglar'' by
David Goodis
David Loeb Goodis (March 2, 1917 – January 7, 1967) was an American writer of crime fiction noted for his output of short stories and novels in the noir fiction genre. Born in Philadelphia, Goodis alternately resided there and in New York Cit ...
had been published in 1953 and filmed in 1956. Goodis was popular with French filmmakers; his novel ''Down There'' had been adapted by
François Truffaut as ''
Shoot the Piano Player
''Shoot the Piano Player'' (french: Tirez sur le pianiste; UK title: ''Shoot the Pianist'') is a 1960 French New Wave crime drama film directed by François Truffaut that stars Charles Aznavour as the titular pianist with Marie Dubois, Nicole Ber ...
'' (1961).
Filming took place in Athens and Paris.
Reception
The film was a box office hit in France, being the sixth most popular movie of the year.
The ''Los Angeles Times'' said "the scenery is lovely, Belmondo is fun to watch even in a flat, silly part like this" but that it was "finally an uninteresting and uninvolving movie" because "it has no reality except as a movie".
The ''New York Times'' called it "yet another international caper film... that does nothing very well and almost everything in excess" in which the director would "fill up a great deal of film time with a device rather than with an action".
''Time Out'' said the film "suffers an overdose of sunshine and multi-national production values to emerge as just another glossy heist."
References
External links
*
*
''Le Casse''at filmsdefrance.com
at Cinema Retro
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burglars
1970s crime action films
1971 films
1970s chase films
Films scored by Ennio Morricone
Films directed by Henri Verneuil
Films set in Athens
Films shot in Greece
Films shot in Athens
French crime action films
French multilingual films
Italian multilingual films
French heist films
French remakes of American films
Columbia Pictures films
Films based on American novels
Italian heist films
1970s heist films
1970s English-language films
English-language French films
English-language Italian films
1970s French-language films
1971 multilingual films
1970s Italian films
1970s French films