Writing credits
Auguste Le Breton (novel)
Jules Dassin (adaptation)
René Wheeler (collaboration) and
Auguste Le Breton (collaboration)
Auguste Le Breton (dialogue)
Cast:
Jean Servais
Carl Möhner
Robert Manuel
Jules Dassin
Marie Sabouret
Janine Darcey
Robert Hossein
Recommended Movie-Club Sandwich: Brute Force (1947)
Last edited by NSpan on January 19th, 2010, 7:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
On the run from Johnny Law ... ain't no trip to Cleveland.
Just watched Brute Force. Amazing how little this film has dated. It's 63-years old and (with some minor tweaks) could be released today and be taken completely seriously. It actually touches on many of the same themes as Scum (a recent Movie Club pick). These include indictments of the penal system for its cyclical nature, corruption, and in-name-only "rehabilitation". I wouldn't be surprised if Sam Peckinpah had recently watched this film before writing/shooting the climactic sequence in The Wild Bunch. In fact, I might even describe the movie (in stylistic terms) as a precursor to Cool Hand Luke (and the modern prison/escape formula overall) with splashes of Peckinpah's trademark violence inserted throughout.
Anyway, great prison movie. Puts Shawshank to shame, in my opinion. A story like this needs the raw intensity that Jules Dassin provided. No whitewashing, polishing, or lullaby-esque Morgan Freeman narration necessary.
Good suggestion, Boosh. Looking forward to (finally) watching Rififi.
On the run from Johnny Law ... ain't no trip to Cleveland.
Did you originally suggest Rififi (in addition to Brute Force)?
Because that was one fucking helluva movie. I'm going to echo my thoughts about Brute Force in saying that Rififi could be released today and it would be just as effective as it was in 1955. AMAZING how little it's dated.
In terms of heist movies, can you think of one that predates this--and also employs the whole "assembling a team" aspect of the story? I'm going to write more in response to it--but I'm trying to figure out just HOW impressed I was with it. (It's somewhere between "very" and "extremely").
On the run from Johnny Law ... ain't no trip to Cleveland.
In terms of heist movies, can you think of one that predates this--but also employs the whole "assembling a team" aspect of the story? You know, that Ocean's Eleven kinda cliche.
On the run from Johnny Law ... ain't no trip to Cleveland.
Hmm. Possiblay. The synopsis doesn't sound exactly like what I had in mind--but, oddly, two of the main characters share names with those of Rififi: Mario and Jo.
Actually, after doing a little reading, I think Rififi really might provide the ensemble heist movie archetype, preceding the earliest I could think of (The Killing) and providing a basis for the modern revamps (Reservoir Dogs, Italian Job, Ocean's ##). The only one that comes earlier, that I've found, is Asphalt Jungle--which came out 5 years prior. Haven't seen that one, so I need to check it out.
On the run from Johnny Law ... ain't no trip to Cleveland.
