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Rating:  - Stylishly passionless
If you're a Jean-Pierre Melville fan you've probably already guessed that Alain Delon portrays a imperturbable gangster, there's gonna be a heist revealed in detail, there's gonna be an unshakeable cop, American cars, trenchcoats, and jazz.
This penultimate flick of Melville's, like his ultimate (UN FLIC), is too detached. The various plights resist emotional involvement -- except for the Yves Montand role which provides a splash of excitement and color. The heist in this movie is almost without tension (unlike the suspenseful ones in UN FLIC).
The story remains intellecturally interesting, however, and along with Melville's visual mastery (this time, with a yellow/green/red palette so popular nowadays), Melville fans will stay rooted to their seats.
Rating:  - Pacing baby!
I love 70' cinema. There is something about the photography, the pace and the style that speaks to me very strongly. 70' cinema showed me that a strong movie does not need an overdoze of over-the-top action or be a special effect galore to be thrilling, and Le Cercle Rouge directed by Melville is celluloid proof of that. Le Cercle Rouge's narrative, atmosphere, details and beautifull photography glues you to the screen. The movie take it's time to show you what occurs on screen, no scene is rush and the pacing enable you to really soak up the story. An a very good story at that - well acted by Delon, Montand, Volonté and espacialy Bourvil - about escaping, getting out, struggling and robbing a jewllery, but mostly a story about the collision of intense men on different side of the law. So sit back, relax and enjoy Melville's amazing work.
Rating:  - Capers with your salad sir?
Standing on the rooftop, looking down into the empty square, three thieves are about to meet in The Red Circle. I like me a good caper film, and Le Cercle Rouge shot right to the top of my favorites, along with Heat and Rififi. I'd have to go; Rififi's silent heist then Le Cercle Rouge's no-nonesense burgle closely behind.
Alain Delon plays Corey, an unflappable theif who is on the cusp of being released from prison, when a guard convinces him to go for a gigantic jewelry heist at a shop the guard's relative is employed at. Corey's job will be to assemble a team somehow and fence the jewelry, basically do everything. The guard insists. Meanwhile, a man named Vogel (Gian Maria Volont?) is being escorted to Paris by the police for some unknown crime (at least I may have missed the mention). These two men's path eventually meet, and that of a third, to pull of a jewel heist of biblical proportions. All of this happens as Vogel is being hunted by nearly all of France's police might.
The subtlties of Le Cercle Rouge are endless, with the best aspect being the ommission of superfluous patronizing on the part of Jean-Pierre Melville. Even the actors employed a certian "economy of motion" (one of my very favorite phrases) that kept things fresh and natural. I don't really know what to add other than an extended recap. It's a must see for fans of the previously mentioned films.
Rating: - A return to majestic silence?
Everyone likes the cooly created, memorable heist movie. Alain Delon provides the antihero, Melville provides the cool, and a handful of other great talent (Yves Montand, Gian Maria Volonte, and Andre Bourvil, mostly) arrives to add a crisp engaging movie...
...with very little dialog. This is great, because one certain aspect of the genre tends to be a lot of dialog involving the quick-witted and their various repartees. This movie, however, could be watched with the sound completely off and not too terribly much would be missed. Not to say the sound is bad, oh no, the jazzy soundtrack and the crisp audio catching the little movements makes the slow, patient deliberation of the patients very compelling.
What's also really neat about this film is that the color cinematography is pretty fantastic. Usually when it comes to cinematography, black and white movies tend to stick out in my mind, but this film has some very strong and beautiful imagery that makes the movie pure visual pleasure to observe.
--PolarisDiB
Rating: - A very influential movie
(1970) An exceptional movie, a film noir à la française simply amazing of minimalism and master. This movie is probably after Le Samourai, from the same director Jean Pierre Melville (used this alias because was in love with the Moby Dick book) on the most influential movie on contemporary film making. Jim Jarmush (Ghost Dog), John Woo (The Killer) and many more, loudly claim their admiration for Melville's work and Le Cercle Rouge. John Woo recently announced his will to remake Le Cercle rouge along with three other french film noirs (all featuring Alain Delon).
Andre Bourvil is amazing of sobriety (knowing that he used to be a stand up comic and comedian) as Commissaire Mattei aging cop, decided to do anything to arrest Vogel (Gian Maria Volonte) who escaped from him at the begining of the movie, this role would be the last one for Bourvil, he died just right after the shooting. Lino ventura was Melville's first choice. Alain Delon (After Le Samourai in 1967) plays a small crook, getting out a of jail (set in Marseille) heading to Paris for a heist (idea given to him by one of the wardens), when he encounters Gian Maria Volonte character (Some may have seen him in Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More in 1965). Yves Montand is probably the best character, playing an alcoholic ex cop, taking part of the heist by will of redemption (the scene where he is hallucinating is purely amazing), Melville was gonna use Jean Paul Belmondo for the role. Guns are here pure accessories only used for the final shotdown. Great tribute to the original film noir era, slow movie but never boring, great character description are what makes Le Cercle Rouge this masterpiece which continues to fascinate every movie fan round the world.
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