O Círculo Vermelho

On the eve of his release after five years imprisoned, the thief Corey (Alain Delon) is contacted by one guard of the prison that offers him a jewelry heist. However Corey seeks out his former boss Rico (André Ekyan) and steals money from him. Rico sends two gangsters to hunt Corey down and retrieve the stolen amount. Meanwhile the criminal Vogel (Gian- Maria Volonte) is transported by train by the Police Officer Mattei (André Bourvil) and succeeds to escape. Corey drives from Marseille to Paris and Vogel hides in the trunk of his car. Corey finds him but does not object to ride Vogel to Paris hidden in the trunk. When the gangsters sent by Rico cut in Corey's car, Vogel saves him from the criminals, but Corey loses the money. Without money, Corey decides to heist the jewelry with Vogel and invites the former police detective Jansen (Yves Montand) to team-up with them. The trio executes a perfect heist but Rico is seeking revenge and Mattei is an unethical but efficient police officer capable to use any means to resolve the case.

"Le cercle rouge" is another great heist movie by the French director Jean-Pierre Melville, one of the best in the genre crime and thriller. The thin line between the behavior of police members and criminals is impressively realistic. The scenes are very detailed and there are long sequences in absolute silence along 140 minutes running time but the movie is developed in an adequate pace and is never boring. The dream cast with Alain Delon, Gian-Maria Volonte and Yves Montand among others makes this movie totally believable. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Circulo Vermelho" ("The Red Circle")