TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Patience Watson One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

gavin6942 Bob, a middle-aged gambler and ex-con living in the Montmartre district of Paris, experiences a run of bad luck that leaves him nearly broke. Bob is a gentleman with scruples, well liked in the demi-monde community. He has unsuccessfully tried to rob a bank in the past, and has spent time in prison.Vincent Canby, writing in 1981, noted "Melville's affection for American gangster movies may have never been as engagingly and wittily demonstrated as in Bob le Flambeur, which was only the director's fourth film, made before he had access to the bigger budgets and the bigger stars of his later pictures." "Bob le flambeur" influenced the two versions of the American film Ocean's Eleven (1960 and 2001) as well as Paul Thomas Anderson's "Hard Eight", and was remade by Neil Jordan as "The Good Thief" in 2002. What I love about this is how the genre comes full circle. With the western, it had to go to Italy before it come back and be reborn in the United States. Apparently for the gangster film, it had to detour through France.Seemingly, American studios could not be inspired by John Ford or William Wellman until their work was properly recognized by some European counterparts in the 1950s and 1960s. But that is not surprising.

Ore-Sama Absent of the stylization of "Le Samurai" and not as gritty or violent as crime thrillers of the 60's, "Bob the Gambler", from Jean Pier Melville, is none the less an important film historically for it's influence on the crime genre, heist films specifically. However, how does it hold up as a film?Certainly there is sufficient build up to the heist. We see every step of the planning, with plenty of twists and turns leading up to it, and once things get started, the suspense is certainly there, though without giving anything away, the suspense doesn't come the way one would expect it to, but the tension is definitely there. There is violence, though not a whole lot, and it's obscured, so don't expect much in the way of high octane gun action.While the sections of the film dealing with the heist itself, the planning, build up and execution would all be enough to make this a fine film, what elevates it even more is the characterization. Bob is a a retired criminal, who all ready served twenty years in prison. Now friends with a cop and living seemingly straight, he's none the less prone to gambling and losing. He takes a father like role to Paulo, who aspires to be like him, and takes a liking to a young woman, Anne. He's seemingly a good person, willing to help others whenever he can. However, when he loses most of his fortune on a foolish bet, he gets a team together for a grand scale heist. This film is about more than a heist, it's about a flawed man whose vices will ensure he is never completely on the straight and narrow. Paulo also falls prey to his desire to win over and impress Anne, at any cost. The highlight of the film for me is the characters, fully realized and done justice by fantastic performances from everyone involved. I won't spoil the ending, but it's one of those endings that makes you completely rethink your earlier perceptions.Cinematography, while not as amazing as "Le Samurai", is still something to appreciate, with clear influences from American crime and noir films.SHould be approached as more of a crime drama than a full out, action packed heist film. Definitely recommended.

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.

Boba_Fett1138 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/