Le Cercle Rouge [Criterion Collection] [4K Ultra HD Blu-ray] [2 Discs]

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville Jean-Pierre Melville

Overview

"Corey (Alain Delon) is the young gun in the French underworld who has just been released from prison. Escaped convict Vogel (Gian-Maria Volonté) hides in the trunk of Corey's car. The two enlist the help of an alcoholic former cop (Yves Montand) for an elaborate jewelry-store robbery. Police inspector Mattei (Bourvil) whom Vogel escaped in the beginning of the film is on the case trying to recapture the criminals. He is not opposed to using blackmail techniques to get answers out of the unwilling witnesses and criminals brought in for questioning."

Product Details

Release Date:	03/15/2022
UPC:	0715515269513
Original Release:	1970
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English
Time:	2:20:00
Format:	Blu-ray
Sales rank:	7,931

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Alain Delon	Corey
Yves Montand	Jansen
Gian Maria Volonte	Vogel
Paul Crauchet	Le receleur
Paul Amiot	L'inspecteur général de la police
Pierre Collet	Le Gardien de prison
André Ekyan	Rico
Jean-Pierre Posier	Actor
François Périer	Actor
Yves Arcanel	Actor
René Berthier	Police chief
Jean-Marc Boris	Santi's son
Jean Champion	Guard
Yvan Chiffre	Policeman
Anna Douking	Actor
Robert Favart	Salesperson at Mauboissin's
Roger Fradet	Policeman
Édouard Francomme	Actor
Jean Franval	Le tenancier d'hotel
Jacques Galland	Actor
Jean-Pierre Janic	Actor
Pierre Lecomte	Actor
Jacques Léonard	Actor
Jacques Leroy	Actor
Jean Pignol	L'employe du greffe
Robert Rondo	Policeman
Bourvil	le commissaire Mattei,Actor
Gian Maria Volontè	Vogel
Stéphanie Fugain	La vendeuse de cigarettes
Guy Henry	Un garde
François Perier	Santi
Yves Arcanal	Examining magistrate
Éric Demarsan	Composer
Eric de Marsan	Composer

Technical Credits

Jean-Pierre Melville

Jean-Pierre Melville	Director,Screenwriter
Robert Dorfmann	Producer,Producer
Jacques Carrère	Sound Effects
Jean Nény	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Guy Chichignoud	Sound Effects
Victor Revelli	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Part of the genius of Jean-Pierre Melville was that he was able to take the formal elements of the crime film and put a thoroughly individual stamp on them -- his best films take the stuff of a thousand grade-B thrillers and invest them with a singular intelligence and quiet cool. On the surface, Le Cercle Rouge concerns two criminals thrown into a slightly uneasy alliance with a corrupt and alcoholic ex-cop to pull off a heist, but in Melville's hands this becomes a story about kindred spirits brought together through chance and unforeseen circumstance; their lives on the other side of the law have as much to do with their own personal sense of ethics and honor as those of the lawmen who struggle to track them down. Melville's clean, elegant framing of shots and his appreciation of the value of silence gives this picture a spare but satisfying feel quite different from most European crime films, and the subtle but sharply etched performances of Alain Delon, Gian Maria Volonté, and Yves Montand are the ideal embodiment of Melville's notion that less is more. In 1970, Le Cercle Rouge received a spotty release in the United States in a version cut by some 40 minutes; the uncut print finally received a belated American release in 2002, and in its pristine form, Le Cercle Rouge reveals itself as a film whose subtle touch only adds to the tension and suspense it generates -- a valuable lesson for filmmakers who believe that the function of genre filmmaking is to slap the viewer about the face and neck.