Charles, fresh out of jail, rejects his wife's plan for a quiet life of bourgeois respectability. He enlists a former cell mate, Francis, to assist him in pulling off one final score, a carefully planned assault on the vault of a Cannes casino.
Compagnia Cinematografica Mondiale (CCM) Compagnie Internationale de Productions Cinématographiques (CIPRA) Cité Films
Mélodie en sous-sol, Gran jugada en la Costa Azul, The Big Snatch, Ληστεία στο Μόντε Κάρλο, Lautlos wie die Nacht, 地下室のメロディ, Мелодия из подвала, Colpo grosso al casinò, Alvilági melódia, Η Μεγάλη Ληστεία του Καζίνο, Мелодия от приземния етаж, 지하실의 멜로디, Melodie podzemí, 大小通吃, Мелодія з підвалу, 地下室のメロディー, Askel askeleelta, Gângsters de Casaca, Steg för steg
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France
France
Japan
Spain
USA
What a fun delightful heist film. Sure it takes awhile to get there as we establish Charles(Jean Gabin) as a character coming out of jail after 7 years for a previous (I'm guessing heist) crime to his wife who is very much an independent and is kind but cold probably due to his criminal proclivities and tries to entice him to a life of being a hotel/restaurant owner but old lady crime lingers in his loins to pull off one final job and is given one by his old friend Mario(Henri Virlogeux) but alas he is in bad health plus the Misses is stern and won't allow it so enter Francis(Alain Delon) an aimless mid 20's handsome hood who lives…
RIP Alain Delon. In the past I’ve discussed several films starring this French star who not only became a sex symbol, he played impossibly cool characters. This includes Le Samourai, which I’ve recently learned was incredibly influential-it wasn’t just Fincher’s The Killer that reminds people of Jef Costello. Other films I dig include Le Cercle Rouge and his small supporting role in the awesome Western Red Sun. Bronson, Delon AND Mifune… holy crap. There’s also the likes of Capucine and Ursula Andress, so that’s one I happily recommend.
Among the selection of pictures I had at my disposal, Any Number Can Win was selected as it’s a heist picture, I knew its other star (the legendary Jean Gabin) and director…
Firmly in the tradition of classic french capers like Rififi and Bob le flambeur comes Any Number Can Win — a complex and decidedly cool heist flick that more than delivers. Jean Gabin plays an aging con, recently released from prison who in pursuit of the mythical ‘last score’ enlists a cocky ex-cellmate (Alain Delon) in order to take down a Cannes casino.
Gabin and Delon are in top form portraying crafty crooks filled trickery and deceit instead of tired-old ‘criminals with conscience’ and share a delicious rivalrous dynamic. The scenes where the punk thief’s impetuous ways collide with veteran’s hardcore professionalism are an absolute delight.
Crime-savvy director Henri Verneuil eschews high octane action in favour of a deliberately paced…
„Lautlos wie die Nacht“
Henri Verneuil: Check
Jean Gabin & Alain Delon:Check
Heist-Movie:Check
Und los geht‘s………..Casino, das leeren wir! Vorbereitung ist alles, merkt euch das! Gegensätze ziehen sich zwar an, aber der Alte weiß alles besser, der Junge ist ein Hitzkopf und einen Feigling haben wir auch noch an Bord, aber wir machen das schon.
Schwarz/Weiß mit jeder Menge schöner Frauen und coolem Jazz, ja die ganze Welt ist eine Showbühne. Und eingebrochen wird dennoch lautlos, geschmeidig…….schaffen wir es trotz all der Tücken und plötzlich auftretenden Hindernisse?! Klar doch! Oder?
Dass das Leben einige Überraschungen parat hat wissen wir doch alle, aber manchmal kann dieser Schweinehund doch äußerst gemein sein, aber dann gibt es eigentlich nur für einen Außenstehenden etwas zu lachen.
Jean Gabin's rationale for risking a return to prison for one last, big score sets the slightly-tongue-in-cheek tone of this heist thriller: because nobody's ever thought of it. A casino heist. The man needs to watch more movies.
This actually came out three years after Lexis Milestone's Rat Pack caper Ocean's Eleven, so I would say, a lot of people had probably thought about it. No points for originality there Jean. Speaking of which, there's a pretty fun night-time rooftop sequence featuring a very catlike Alain Delon (looking like he did most of it himself), and which has to be a nod to To Catch a Thief (1955). At least it better be a nod because otherwise it's kind of…
French heist movies will never be not cool. Any Number Can Win is no different. The jazzy soundtrack, the cold way characters do business, the effortless charm of Alain Delon and the tension rising as the minutes go by until it reaches a heart-breaking climax in the end. Melville probably watched this and fell in love with Delon.
i absolutely adore the usage of mirrors in this. i also can’t ignore how mesmerising alain delon was.
The ending is really amazing, I didn’t expect that.
However what I was expecting was that once again Alain Delon would be beautiful charismatic and captivating and he was.
Pretty good French caper. The first of the threee movies Jean Gabin and Alain Delon did together and very much about the stars tension. They collaborate on the heist (Gabin masterminds it, Delon does most of the physical work), but don't exactly work together. Sections of the film are just dominated by either and part of the pleasure is how Verneuil just pitches scenes to either of its stars rhythms. They less share screen time as take turns into dominating the procedural. For a heist movie. it is unusual into that it is not desperate, but bitter, the money is almost entirely an abstract proposition, a symbol of power. The generation gap remains central. If in Grisbi (which it deliberate…
Verneuil with another wonderful heist film. The Sicilian clan is one of my favorite movies of all time and through that I gave this a try especially again for this magnificent duo of Alain Delon and Jean Gabin. Two legends in amazing roles.
The score this time isn’t from morricone which I would thought makes it worse but it doesn’t. Sure it hasn’t auch a legendary theme like the Sicilian clan but the jazzy casino sounds are totally suited. Only that it’s too predictable and some lengths are in it, makes it not better for me.
