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Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This is one of my all-time favorite films. I saw it in Boston around 1982 when the film was released, it seems for the first time, in the US. The acting, the script, the astonishing performances from actors unknown to most US audiences, the modernity of it all...and Isabelle Corey. Well, the French have a word for it.Paris, as always, steals the show to a certain extent, but that is one of the things (besides Isabelle Corey) that makes it worth viewing repeated times.The one thing that I am perplexed by is this: when I saw it in 1982, I am quite sure it had a *completely different, and happier ending*. What I recall is: The gang gets into the casino and holds the staff hostage as planned. Bob is late, but gets there in the end to see them trying to open the safe...but there is some complication with the locks and they fail, and decide to run for it. They make it outside, where the Commissaire and his men catch them. Paulo didn't die in this cut. They are all arrested, and as they're being put in the police cars, out come the pageboys carrying all the banknotes Bob won at the Chemin de Fer tables...so Bob knows they'll be alright in the end.In this case, I think the scene in the Criterion release where Melville comes on the voice-over and says "This is how the hold-up was supposed to take place" was actually seen at the end as the hold-up itself in the version I remember. As it is now, it's quite bizarre and something of a non-sequitur to see this scene placed, for no apparent reason, earlier in the film. This alternate ending also explains the odd situation several people have commented on, to the effect that Bob is seen after Paulo's death appearing not so concerned or saddened as we all think he should be.So it seems to me that Melville made two versions, and that perhaps for some markets it was felt that Paulo had to die, since he'd gunned down Marc the Slimeball a few hours earlier.They just do not make films like this anymore.

Coming a few years before Jean-Pierre Melville's ongoing obsession with trenchcoats and fedoras, Bob Le Flambeur is probably his most traditional noir flick, centered around the titular Bob (played by Roger Duchesne), an aging gangster who decides to go in for one final gamble by robbing a local casino. He recruits a small group of partners to come in with him, but the arrival of the beautiful young Anne (played with compelling charm by Isabelle Corey) throws a rift in the dynamic of the group and we all know how a girl can bring the downfall of a great many men.It's all relatively standard procedure, but it's interesting to see Melville developing what would eventually become his trademark style. The film doesn't have the unbelievably slick style of Le Samourai or the brooding grit of Le Doulos, but at times you can see pieces of each and it's all built around an interesting central figure. Bob is a man who we never get the chance to fully explore, but it's that stoicism, that mystery, that makes him all the more engaging. Duchesne plays him with a haunted, world-worn reserve that reminded me of the kind of stuff that George Clooney has been doing for the last five years or so. Bob Le Flambeur ends up being a character study more than anything else, which made me kind of curious as to why Bob essentially takes a backseat to the supporting characters for the middle stretch of the film.After the first act establishes him he almost disappears and we instead focus a lot more on the cops and Bob's young protégé Paolo (Daniel Cauchy). It was a disappointing turn, made all the more so by how interesting things got once we returned full-on to Bob in the final act. It's a diversion that's easy to understand in order to bring about the conflicts that drive the overall narrative, but it made me wish that we had been focusing on him entirely the whole time. Still, it's an ultimately minor complaint in an otherwise solid, if not overly impressive Melville entry. The film features an excellent ending as well, closing out on a high point.

This is such a great movie, that does about everything right. It's an early French crime caper movie, that obviously helped to set the standards for later movies.It's not like there weren't any movies like this prior to this movie but this is one that has all of the modern genre element type of ingredients in it, that we can still see back in todays movies. It perhaps makes this movie seem as a bit of a formulaic and generic one by todays standards but in the light of when this movie got made, it surely is a greatly original one. And it still really is one that is among the best, regardless of the fact that you probably have seen all of the elements in this movie being handled in later ones and better known ones as well.It has a great story with some equally great characters in it. It's a very rich movie that also manages to capture the right tone, thanks to some fine directing. It has lots of typical crime elements in it, such as an heist, likable 'bad guys' and the cat and mouse game between them and the police.It really is a fine made movie, that got directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. The movie has a good look over it, as well as a nice steady pace. The scene's are being build up great and the entire story gets told effectively. It's a great 'how-to' on directing and storytelling. It feels really like a Hollywoodized version of a French movie but in this case that's a good thing. It's also why this also helped to influence movies from Hollywood as well.No reason why to not like this movie.9/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

"Bob the high-roller," as he was called in the translation I watched; loves gambling. He's also a thief. Everyone thinks he's retired, including the police sergeant he keeps in touch with. But he suddenly gets a taste for it again, and decides to put a group together and rob a casino. Remade un-memorably with Nick Nolte as The Good Thief, this black and white French original created the clichés that made the whole world sing, from Ocean's Eleven (1960), Reservoir Dogs (1991), Casino (1994) and every other breezy heist movie ever made. Stanley Kubrick said he stopped making crime movies because Melville made the perfect one here.Great characters, a memorable score with jazzy sections, great performances, and probably the best pacing and story of any heist/noir/crime movie from the 30's, 40's or 50's. This is just guaranteed compulsively good entertainment, and as a first experience from Jean-Pierre Melville, instantly encourages me to see everything else he did. My next steps will by Le Cercle Rouge, Army in the Shadows and Le Samourai.