Le Cercle Rouge (1970)

By chance, a man (the magnetic Gian Maria Volonte) on the run from the police (for some reason, his crime is never explained) accidentally meets a man (Alain Delon) just released from prison. With a third man, an ex-policeman and recovering alcoholic (Yves Montand), they plot a spectacular diamond heist. Meanwhile, the police inspector (Andre Bourvil) whose custody Volonte escaped from, is determined to track him down and redeem himself. Directed by Jean Pierre Melville, who continues his existential fascination (the film begins with a quote from Buddha) with crime and criminals in this mostly mesmerizing film. I don't think the influence of American film noir on Melville has ever been more apparent than it is here. The dialogue is minimal and there are long segments without dialogue. Henri Decae's cinematography is all shiny and glimmery surfaces and Eric Demarsan's score is near remarkable in its restraint. Curiously, the big heist sequence (almost a half hour long and no dialogue) stops the movie cold with no suspense at all and one merely waits for it to be over. With Francois Perier and Andre Ekyan.