Boring

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Ruthless, cold-hearted individuals killing randomly then going on the run does not, of itself, make for authentic Film Noir, in my opinion. Dark, yes, violent, certainly, but where is the characterisation, the inbuilt conscience that would give the excessive violence some sort of moral standpoint? Unfortunately, this approach is all too typical of French Noir. Perhaps the movie needed a Jean Gabin to inject some reality into the action. Lino Ventura, for all his screen presence, is no substitute.Ultimately, despite everyone trying very hard, this movie is no more than routine.

I've only seen about a half dozen films starring Lino Ventura, but this one seems very much like the others. He plays a laconic criminal--one who is short on words and subdued yet occasionally explosive. Given his quiet persona in such films as ARMY OF SHADOWS and SECOND BREATH, I've noticed that his minimalist style of acting is extremely effective. In other words, because he is so quiet and mannered, when he does bad things you tend to notice. And, like these other films, he also has a very strong, though twisted, moral code.Abel Davos (Ventura) and his partner, Lilane, are both living in Italy and are career criminals. Both grew up in France and eventually had to flea due to their criminal activities. Now in Italy as the film begins, they continue to live the life of thugs and the heat is on to catch them. Oddly, instead of running to yet a third country, they decide to go back to France--even though Davos has been tried and convicted in absentia--and if he's caught it could mean a life in prison or the death penalty. Much of the first third of the film concerns their covert return.Unfortunately for Davos, the return doesn't go perfectly and now it seems as if every cop in France is looking for him. Additionally, the reaction of his old compatriots in crime is not at all what he'd expect. In fact, their tepid response to his return ends up unleashing a series of terrible events towards the end of the film.Along the way, Davos meets and is taken in my a stranger, Eric Stark (Jean-Paul Belmondo). Despite Davos seemingly having no friends, Stark and his lady friend try their best to make his return successful. What throws another monkey wrench into this, though, is Davos' two very young sons--what is Davos to do with them--keep them with him in his hiding place? Overall, this is a very good crime film--sort of like French Film Noir. Unlike American Noir, the many French versions I have seen have a more realistic as well as bleak outlook to them. Fatalism reigns supreme, that's for sure! The acting is first-rate (especially from Ventura and Belmondo), the direction very sure and the writing very nice, though I am sure many won't like the ending. It just seems to be tacked on--like an afterthought. I understood why they did it this way, but can also see how it might leave many unsatisfied. As for me, it did leave me a tad flat. Otherwise, an exceptional film.

Classe Tous Risques (The Big Risk) is a French gangster movie that doesn't try for style. That's why it has style. Because the movie is so underplayed and so matter-of-fact, it becomes more and more involving. And because Abel Davos is played by Lino Ventura, we wind up emotionally invested in this taciturn, tough killer who loves his wife and kids, has an encounter with customs agents on the shore near Nice at night that neither he nor we expect, and who proves just as willing to shoot a cop or a betrayer with as little emotion as flicking off a bit of lint. We first meet Davos in Italy with his wife and their two small boys, one about 9 and one 4. "This man was Abel Davos, sentenced to death in absentia," we're told. "On the run for years, he had watched his resources dwindle, even as his anxiety kept him on the move. With the Italian police closing in each day, France was again his best bet. Maybe he'd been forgotten." Davos was a top gangster in Paris who took care of his friends. That was several years ago. A heist to give him money to return to France goes very wrong. Now he's hiding out with his two kids. He calls his friends in Paris to help him out. He and his kids need to get from Nice to Paris but the police are hunting him and they've set up roadblocks. For Davos' two best friends, time has passed and they've moved on. They don't want to put themselves at risk, and for what? Obligation gives may to caution. So they hire a young thief, Eric Stark (Jean- Paul Belmondo), to pick up Davos and the children in an ambulance, then to drive to Paris with Davos heavily bandaged and the children hidden. We're on a journey where Davos' options are increasingly limited, where he must find ways to have his children cared for, where he realizes there are no more ties of friendship, where betrayal seems likely, and where quite possibly his only friend left is Eric Stark. This somewhat cynical movie works so well because it does its job without fussing about. There are no trench coats with pulled-up collars, no toying with the melodrama of the gangster code so many French directors have loved. Classe tous Risques gives us Abel Davos, a man who once was somebody, who now is sliding down to be nobody, and who reacts with violence and resignation. Lino Ventura dominates the movie, yet when he is paired with Jean-Paul Belmondo a curious chemistry happens. Ventura as Davos is grim and worried about caring for his sons. He is humiliated by his situation. He is a tough man who sees killing someone, if needed, as just part of the business he's in. Belmondo as the young thief who initially is sent to be an expendable driver and winds up being a friend to count on, provides the brightness that keeps the movie from being just one more ride down the elevator. Belmondo was 27 and looks younger. His unlikely star power as a lead actor -- broken nose, under-slung jaw -- shines right off the screen. He makes Erik a match for Ventura when they share a scene. And Belmondo's scenes with Liliane (Sandra Milo), the young woman who becomes his girl friend, radiate charm and good-natured sex appeal. The ending is bittersweet fate, and without a stylistic posture in sight. We hear Davos say, "Abel's gone. There's nothing left." It would be well worth watching Classe tous Risques to learn what he means. There are many fine French gangster films. I'd place this one right there with Touchez Pas au Grisbi and Bob le Flambeur. To see one of Lino Ventura's finest performances, watch Army of Shadows.

"Classes tous risques" is one of the best "gangsters" films noirs France has ever produced.Perfect cast :Lino Ventura,a young Jean -Paul Belmondo (who made "a bout de souffle",Godard's thing, the same year),Marcel Dalio and a fine supporting cast ;brilliant script by José Giovanni -who also wrote "le trou" Becker's masterpièce the same year!What a year for him!;wonderful black and white cinematography by Ghislain Cloquet.And taut action,first-class directing by Claude Sautet,who surpasses Jean-Pierre Melville .Whereas the latter films gangsters movie with metaphysical pretensions,which sometimes lasts more than two hours,Claude Sautet directs men of flesh and blood,and the presence of the two children adds moments of extraordinary poignancy which Melville has never been able to generate .And Sautet avoids pathos,excessive sentimentality:the last time Ventura sees his children,coming down in the metro (subway)is a peak of restrained emotion.Ventura portrays a gangster whose die is cast when the movie begins.He thinks that he can rely on his former acquaintances ,but they are all cowards -we are far from manly friendship dear to Jacques Becker ("touchez pas au grisbi" ) which Melville was to continue throughout the sixties-sometimes abetted by mean women (the film noir misogyny par excellence),living in a rotten microcosm,ready to inform on -we are far from Jean Seberg's simplistic behavior in Godard's "opus"-.Cloquet works wonders with the picture:the scene on the beach in a starless night when the two children see their mother die after the shoot-out with the customs officers is absolutely mind-boggling.There's a good use of voice-over,which Sautet only uses when necessary;thus ,the last lines make the ending even stronger than if we have attended the scenes.Claude Sautet had found a good niche ,and he followed the "classes tous risques" rules quite well with his follow-up "l'arme à gauche" (1965) which featured Ventura again and made a good use of a desert island and a ship.Had he continued in that vein,France would have had a Howard Hawks.In his subsequent works ,only "Max et les ferrailleurs " (1971) showed something of the brilliance he displayed in the first half of the sixties.He had become ,from "les choses de la vie" onwards,the cinema de qualité director who used to focus on tender-hearted bourgeois in such works as "Cesar et Rosalie" (1972),"Vincent François ,Paul et les autres" (1974) or "Mado" (1976)