|
 Classe
Tous Risques (1960)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Criterion / 2008
Directed by Claude Sautet
Written by Claude Sautet José Giovanni Pascal Jardin
Cast: Lino Ventura, Sandra Milo, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Queen
Kong, Cheung Lung
Review by Mike White
French crime films originate from a rather small gene pool.
A handful of series noir writers provided its characters
that were portrayed by a limited number of actors in films
helmed by a select group of directors. Claude Sautet’s
Classe Tous Risques (also known as The Big Risk) exemplifies
the cross pollination of talent. José Giovanni, writer of Un
Règlement de Comptes (filmed by Jean-Pierre Melville as The
Second Breath), adapted his novel for the screen. The film
is best known for bringing together Lino Ventura and
Jean-Paul Belmondo to the screen together for the first
time. These two powerhouses of French cinema populated some
of the best crime pictures of the 1960s.
Ventura stars as Abel Davos, a career criminal on the lam in
Italy with his wife, Therese (Simone France), his two sons,
and his compatriot Raymond (Stan Krol). They’re desperate to
get back to France and their friends. A tragic turn when
they land on French soil leaves Abel bereft of his wife and
chum and saddled with a pair of dead cops, making the cops
more ardent in their pursuit. Abel places a call to his
Parisian pals—Riton, Fargier, and Martin—for aid. None of
them can provide Abel with much more than excuses, though
they do manage to send Eric Stark (Jean-Paul Belmondo) to
retrieve him. Stark—a perfect stranger—proves to be far more
loyal to Abel than any of his alleged friends.
For a crime drama, Classe Tous Risques is free of the
central heist that marks many films of the genre from Rififi
to Bob Le Flambeur to The Sicilian Clan. That’s not to say
that it’s free from malfeasance. Wherever Abel goes, trouble
soon follows thanks to Commissioner Blot (Jacques Dacqmine)
and his less than faithful former friends. |
