4.31 - RIFIFI (1955) & A Code of Honour

The Prestige

This week, we begin our heist movies mini-season with the 1955 French film noir RIFIFI. After our usual reviews, we get into what this film is really about — including a bit of a history lesson from Rob — as well as discussing how this film is less ‘shiny’ than many of the films it spawned, and is all the better for it.

Next Time
The next heist movie on our list is the original OCEAN’S ELEVEN (1960).

Recent Media
PARASITE (2020): Bong Joon-ho, Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-Kyun
THE SPANISH MAIN (1945): Frank Borzage, Maureen O’Hara, Paul Henreid

Recommendations
THE LADYKILLERS (1955): Alexander Mackendrick, Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker
BRIGHTON ROCK (1947): John Boulting, Richard Attenborough, Hermione Baddeley
LA DOLCE VITA (1960): Federico Fellini, Marcello Masttoianni, Anita Ekburg
THE CONVERSATION (1974): Francis Ford Coppola, Gene Hackman, John Cazale

Footnotes
Firstly, here’s more on THE SPANISH MAIN (Sam wasn’t testing Rob; he was genuinely interested!): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spanish_Main. Here’s a useful introduction to film noir: https://ahhsfilm.weebly.com/film-noir.html. For more on the blacklisting of Jules Dassin, see here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Dassin#Hollywood_Blacklist. This is an interesting article on the film, particularly in light of the idea of Dassin’s feeling betrayed: https://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/culture/Rififi.htm. Finally, the IMDB trivia page on the film is a good read: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048021/trivia

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