''Le Casse'' (US title: ''The Burglars'') is a 1971 French-Italian neo noir crime film directed by director

Henri Verneuil Henri Verneuil (; born Ashot Malakian; 15 October 1920 – 11 January 2002) was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who made a successful career in France. He was nominated for Oscar and Palme d'Or awards, and won Locarno International ...

and starring

Jean-Paul Belmondo Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (; 9 April 19336 September 2021) was a French actor and producer. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward. His best known credits ...

and Omar Sharif. It is based on the 1953 novel by

David Goodis David Loeb Goodis (March 2, 1917 – January 7, 1967) was an American writer of crime fiction noted for his output of short stories and novels in the noir fiction genre. Born in Philadelphia, Goodis alternately resided there and in New York Cit ...

and revolves around a team of four burglars chased by a corrupt policeman in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. It's a remake of the 1957 film '' The Burglar'' with

Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress, singer, nightclub entertainer, and ''Playboy'' Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s while under contract at 20th Century Fox, Man ...

. The movie is known for its spectacular car chase and Belmondo's incredible fall from a construction truck down a steep, rocky hillside. The movie was shot twice, once in French and once in English, by the same cast.

Plot

In Athens, Azad (

), Ralph (

Robert Hossein Robert Hossein (30 December 1927 – 31 December 2020) was a French film actor, director, and writer. He directed the 1982 adaptation of ''Les Misérables'' and appeared in '' Vice and Virtue'', '' Le Casse'', '' Les Uns et les Autres'' and '' ...

) and 2 other accomplices, Renzi and Helen, steal a suitcase of

emeralds Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p. ...

from a rich Greek citizen, M.Tasco, when the latter is away on vacation. The thieves break into the house, manage to open the safe, and escape with the jewels. A police detective, Abel Zacharia ( Omar Sharif), spots the burglars’ car in front of the house. Azad chats with the detective telling a cover story of being a salesman with engine trouble. Zacharia leaves and Azad thinks he has gotten away with it. The thieves plan to leave the country immediately on a merchant ship. However when they arrive at the dock they discover the ship is undergoing repairs and will not be ready for five days. They hide the money, split up, and agree to wait out the delay. Zacharia reappears, having decided to find and keep the emeralds himself. Azad falls in love with Lena. Zacharia identifies the thieves and kills Renzi, seeing to it that Ralph seems guilty of the crime. Azad narrowly escapes the police with Lena, but he soon discovers that she is conspiring with Zacharia. Ralph is arrested by police. Azad and Zacharia have a confrontation which results in Zacharia being buried under wheat.

Cast

as Azad * Omar Sharif as Abel Zacharia *

Dyan Cannon Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen; January 4, 1937) is an American actress, director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. Her accolades include a Saturn Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Award nominations, and a star on the Holly ...

as Lena Gripp's *

as Ralph *

Nicole Calfan Nicole Calfan (born 4 March 1947) is a French actress and author. Filmography Theater Author References External links * 1947 births Living people Actresses from Paris French film actresses French television actresses Frenc ...

as Helene * Myriam Feune de Colombi as Isabelle Tasco (as Myriam Colombi) * Raoul Delfosse as Le gardien de la villa Tasco *

José Luis de Vilallonga José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

as Tasco *

Renato Salvatori Renato Salvatori (20 March 1933 – 27 March 1988) was an Italian actor. Born in Seravezza, Province of Lucca, Salvatori began his career in his teens playing juvenile, romantic roles. After working with directors such as Luchino Visconti, Ro ...

as Renzi

Production

''The Burglar'' by

had been published in 1953 and filmed in 1956. Goodis was popular with French filmmakers; his novel ''Down There'' had been adapted by François Truffaut as ''

Shoot the Piano Player ''Shoot the Piano Player'' (french: Tirez sur le pianiste; UK title: ''Shoot the Pianist'') is a 1960 French New Wave crime drama film directed by François Truffaut that stars Charles Aznavour as the titular pianist with Marie Dubois, Nicole Ber ...

'' (1961). Filming took place in Athens and Paris.

Reception

The film was a box office hit in France, being the sixth most popular movie of the year. The ''Los Angeles Times'' said "the scenery is lovely, Belmondo is fun to watch even in a flat, silly part like this" but that it was "finally an uninteresting and uninvolving movie" because "it has no reality except as a movie". The ''New York Times'' called it "yet another international caper film... that does nothing very well and almost everything in excess" in which the director would "fill up a great deal of film time with a device rather than with an action". ''Time Out'' said the film "suffers an overdose of sunshine and multi-national production values to emerge as just another glossy heist."

References

External links

* *
''Le Casse''
at filmsdefrance.com

at Cinema Retro {{DEFAULTSORT:Burglars 1970s crime action films 1971 films 1970s chase films Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films directed by Henri Verneuil Films set in Athens Films shot in Greece Films shot in Athens French crime action films French multilingual films Italian multilingual films French heist films French remakes of American films Columbia Pictures films Films based on American novels Italian heist films 1970s heist films 1970s English-language films English-language French films English-language Italian films 1970s French-language films 1971 multilingual films 1970s Italian films 1970s French films