akupm Bob le Flambeur review: The plot was a complex saga. The film captured some brief shots of Paris in a noir mood. It gave a classic sensation to the picture. The movie didn't have a gripping tone. The characters had a deep nature that was underneath the surface. In addition I loved the vehicles that were driven for an example, the Cat-lax, and other stylish 1950s vehicles. I am in shock that Jean-Pierre Melville had directed that movie because it wasn't as great like his other titles such as 'Le Doulos' and 'A cop'. I was supremely disappointed. Sadly the substance was weak. But then again it was the picture he had choreographed before those two films in the 1950s. That title didn't have enough scenes of pure French scenery unfortunately. The costume and production designing could of been at it rich climax. But on the other hand my ears were trapped when I heard the Jazz soundtrack that was played by expensive instruments. I could easily tale that it had a powerful Hollywood inspiration. It had a strong French style I give the motion picture a 5 ½ 10

kenjha The title character is an aging gambler and supposedly reformed gangster who finds himself on a losing streak and decides to rob a casino. As is the case with most films of Melville, the pace is leisurely - too much so. To the fans of the director, he can do no wrong, but he spends too much time on mundane events. Hardly anything happens for the first third of the film. The plan for the robbery is then put into motion and things become a bit interesting but it is not well sustained. The main attraction here is the alluring Corey, making her film debut as an oversexed teen. Apparently the young actress was plucked from the streets by the director.

seymourblack-1 Jean-Pierre Melville's entertaining heist movie is rich in atmosphere, style and flawed characters and it's these qualities, together with its moments of dry humour and amusing irony that make it so memorable. It's well documented that Melville was heavily influenced by American gangster movies of the 1940s and some evidence of this can be seen as the eponymous Bob wears a trench coat and fedora and drives a Cadillac convertible. Interestingly, however, Melville's use of location work, hand-held cameras and improvisation that are so effective in this movie, later became regarded as "de rigueur" by the French New Wave directors who followed him.As the story begins, a cable car is seen symbolically making its steep descent to the "hell" of Montmartre and Pigalle which are the districts of Paris that Bob Montagne (Roger Duchesne) inhabits. He's an ageing gambler and an ex-con who's gone straight for the last twenty years. He's well known by the people who frequent the nightclubs and gambling dens of the area and over the years has also gained their respect and affection.Bob is a fascinating character whose addiction is also his source of income. He's a gentleman who lives by his own code and often readily helps the people around him. Yvonne (Simone Paris) is the proprietor of one of the bars that he frequents and some years ago, he'd put up the money she needed to set up her business.In Yvonne's bar, Bob meets a young prostitute called Anne (Isabelle Corey) who's homeless and he gives her money, provides her with accommodation and gets her a job at a local nightclub to prevent her from falling under the control of Marc (Gerard Buhr) who's a pimp with a reputation for using violence to control his women. Bob sometimes lends money to those who need his help but he draws the line at lending to pimps who he regards as being contemptible.In the past, Bob has served time in prison for his part in a failed bank robbery and the son of his partner on that job, is now his protégé, Paolo (Daniel Cauchy) who admires Bob greatly and tries to be like him. When Paolo meets Anne, he finds her irresistible and they soon become lovers. Bob is also regarded as a friend by Police Inspector Ledru (Guy Decomble) because some years before, he'd saved his life by intervening when a gunman had tried to kill him.When Bob suffers an exceptionally long losing streak and starts to experience financial problems, a solution seems to present itself when his friend Roger (Andre Garet) tells him about the enormous amount of cash that's normally held at the Deauville Casino on the eve of the Grand Prix. Bob convinces himself that if he could pull off a heist on the day when there's normally 800 million francs in the safe, he could overcome his current problems and also achieve long-term financial security. He recruits a group of men including Roger, Paolo and a professional safe-cracker and then takes charge of the planning and rehearsals that follow.On the night of the heist, Bob goes to the casino before the rest of the gang but very soon gets sidetracked when he can't resist getting involved in playing the tables. The way in which his profound addiction to gambling affects what happens to him and the rest of his gang that night leads to the movie's very surprising and highly ironic conclusion.Roger Duchesne is charming and cool as Bob and his extremely strong performance captures beautifully his character's unique mixture of toughness, kindness and melancholia. The contributions of the rest of the cast are also superb."Bob Le Flambeur" has a good plot and an excellent ending but it's the quality of its characters and the atmosphere of their surroundings that ultimately distinguishes it from the more ordinary entries in the heist movie genre.

Rockwell_Cronenberg 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.