Le Cercle Rouge

Alain Delon plays Corey, a thief released after five years in jail. At approximately the same time Corey gets out, Vogel (Gian-Maria Volonte) escapes from the custody of the aging Commissioner Mattei (André Bourvil). What Vogel has done we do not know, but Mattei is sure Vogel is guilty. Through a series of coincidences, Vogel becomes part of Corey's plan to rob a high-class jeweler. As in other films by Jean-Pierre Melville, the story is told with a minimum of dialogue and lots of stylish mise en scène. The criminals--including Yves Montand, in a outstanding performance as Jansen, a police sharpshooter lost to the underworld and alcohol--are threatened by their loyalty to one another. The police are discernible from the mob bosses only in that their lies and manipulations seem less principled. Francois Perier, who played the best character in Le Samourai--the policeman Frank Costello--returns here on the other side of the law, as the underworld boss Santi, whom Mattei tries to pressure into turning snitch. Mattei is the only one shown with a life outside of crime, feeding his cats after chasing around after Vogel and Corey. He is steadfast in his pursuit, but seems weary, and perhaps too conscious of how his own actions may have hurt the innocent. It is only Corey and Vogel who appear to do any good in the movie, as their need for a sharpshooter gives Jansen renewed purpose in life. Is it a good purpose? Who can say. But it is thrilling to watch it unfold.

[edited to remove some poor phrasing]