career criminal and crime boss and abel davos (lino ventura) has been on the run for more than 10 years and hiding out in milan and italy. in his absence and he has been sentenced to death in his home country of france for his crimes. disillusioned with his life in italy and with the police there closing in on him and he decides to return to his old stomping ground in paris. sending his wife therese and two young sons ahead to nice and abel and his next in command raymond naldi do one final heist and to fund their new lives back in france. the heist proffers a meagre half million francs and way less than their sources had suggested and despite this and with the police in chase they both make it to nice and where they hideout briefly. after stealing a pleasure boat from a local and they aim to make it to san remo a tourist spot where they will blend in more readily and but they are stopped by armed customs officers on a deserted beach and a shoot out ensues and therese and naldi are both killed. a now wounded davos with two kids in tow is going to be easily spotted by police and so he calls on his old friends in paris to send help and but they have moved on since their old friend went into hiding and are not too inclined to take a risk themselves and so they send small time thief and eric stark (jean paul belmondo) to rescue him. davos is disgusted that such a lowly thief is sent to his aid and despite the fact he hits it off immediately with the charming stark and he sets out to find out why he has been snubbed and but their betrayal doesn not stop there. classe tous risques (aka the big risk) was written for the screen by former death row inmate and crime writer jose giovanni (le trou and le clan des siciliens) and with ventura already on board for the project and giovanniwanted someone unique to direct the project and ventura suggested an assistant director that had caught his attention on a previous project and one claude sautet and best known at the time for assisting georges franju on les yeux sans visage. sautet immediately agreed and the rest as they say is history. sautet crafted a fine gangster film and that plays heavily on characters and relationships. davos constantly in hiding has plenty of time to reflect on his life and past and present and future and his friendships that no longer seem to be what he believed they were and his now deceased wife and what will become of his two young sons. ventura as a character actor has always amazed me and being both comfortable and convincing in both the police and criminal fraternity and here his world weary performance is sublime and powerful as his world crumbles all around him and as the loneliness and solitude of a man on the run kicks in. ventura former profession as a pro wrestler gets plenty of use as he throws parisien hoodlums around with a consummate ease. belmondo as stark enlivens the other storyline within the film and that of his budding relationship with a girl he meets on the road trip. with his forthright charm and his coming clean to this woman in danger that he is but a voleur and that the only good thing about me is my left as he knocks out her aggressor and is also a joy to behold and as she falls for him anyway. belmondo performance was overlooked at the time and as godard a bout de soufflé was released only three weeks previous and godard attaining the credit for discovering the new kid on the block and his versatility within these two films and being there for all to see and admire. sautet film is a classy affair and using plenty of attractive locations and the film also has very sparse dialogue and sautet preferring to let the actors do the work with the merest of looks or glances sufficing to further the story and needles to say this noir fan will be checking out more of sautet work in the future. 
career criminal and crime boss and abel davos (lino ventura) has been on the run for more than 10 years and hiding out in milan and italy. in his absence and he has been sentenced to death in his home country of france for his crimes. disillusioned with his life in italy and with the police there closing in on him and he decides to return to his old stomping ground in paris. sending his wife therese and two young sons ahead to nice and abel and his next in command raymond naldi do one final heist and to fund their new lives back in france. the heist proffers a meagre half million francs and way less than their sources had suggested and despite this and with the police in chase they both make it to nice and where they hideout briefly. after stealing a pleasure boat from a local and they aim to make it to san remo a tourist spot where they will blend in more readily and but they are stopped by armed customs officers on a deserted beach and a shoot out ensues and therese and naldi are both killed. a now wounded davos with two kids in tow is going to be easily spotted by police and so he calls on his old friends in paris to send help and but they have moved on since their old friend went into hiding and are not too inclined to take a risk themselves and so they send small time thief and eric stark (jean paul belmondo) to rescue him. davos is disgusted that such a lowly thief is sent to his aid and despite the fact he hits it off immediately with the charming stark and he sets out to find out why he has been snubbed and but their betrayal doesn not stop there. classe tous risques (aka the big risk) was written for the screen by former death row inmate and crime writer jose giovanni (le trou and le clan des siciliens) and with ventura already on board for the project and giovanniwanted someone unique to direct the project and ventura suggested an assistant director that had caught his attention on a previous project and one claude sautet and best known at the time for assisting georges franju on les yeux sans visage. sautet immediately agreed and the rest as they say is history. sautet crafted a fine gangster film and that plays heavily on characters and relationships. davos constantly in hiding has plenty of time to reflect on his life and past and present and future and his friendships that no longer seem to be what he believed they were and his now deceased wife and what will become of his two young sons. ventura as a character actor has always amazed me and being both comfortable and convincing in both the police and criminal fraternity and here his world weary performance is sublime and powerful as his world crumbles all around him and as the loneliness and solitude of a man on the run kicks in. ventura former profession as a pro wrestler gets plenty of use as he throws parisien hoodlums around with a consummate ease. belmondo as stark enlivens the other storyline within the film and that of his budding relationship with a girl he meets on the road trip. with his forthright charm and his coming clean to this woman in danger that he is but a voleur and that the only good thing about me is my left as he knocks out her aggressor and is also a joy to behold and as she falls for him anyway. belmondo performance was overlooked at the time and as godard a bout de soufflé was released only three weeks previous and godard attaining the credit for discovering the new kid on the block and his versatility within these two films and being there for all to see and admire. sautet film is a classy affair and using plenty of attractive locations and the film also has very sparse dialogue and sautet preferring to let the actors do the work with the merest of looks or glances sufficing to further the story and needles to say this noir fan will be checking out more of sautet work in the future. ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

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