The Burglars

Le Casse (US title: The Burglars) is a 1971 French-Italian neo noir crime film directed by director Henri Verneuil and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Omar Sharif. It is based on the 1953 novel by David Goodis and revolves around a team of four burglars chased by a corrupt policeman in Athens. It's a remake of the 1957 film The Burglar with Jayne Mansfield.

For films with similar names, see Burglar (disambiguation).
Le Casse
Theatrical poster
Directed byHenri Verneuil
Screenplay byHenri Verneuil
Vahé Katcha
Based onThe Burglar
1953 novel
by David Goodis
Produced byHenri Verneuil
StarringJean-Paul Belmondo
Omar Sharif
CinematographyClaude Renoir
Edited byPierre Gillette
Music byEnnio Morricone
Color processEastmancolor
Production
companies
Columbia Films
Vides Cinematografica
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
  • 27 October 1971 (1971-10-27) (France)
  • June 14, 1972 (1972-06-14) (USA)
Running time
120 minutes
CountriesFrance
Italy
LanguageFrench
Budget15 million francs[1]
Box office$33 million[2]

The movie is known for its spectacular car chase and Belmondo's incredible fall from a construction truck down a steep, rocky hillside. The movie was shot twice, once in French and once in English, by the same cast.

Plot

In Athens, Azad (Jean-Paul Belmondo), Ralph (Robert Hossein) and 2 other accomplices, Renzi and Helen, steal a suitcase of emeralds from a rich Greek citizen, M.Tasco, when the latter is away on vacation.

The thieves break into the house, manage to open the safe, and escape with the jewels. A police detective, Abel Zacharia (Omar Sharif), spots the burglars’ car in front of the house. Azad chats with the detective telling a cover story of being a salesman with engine trouble. Zacharia leaves and Azad thinks he has gotten away with it.

The thieves plan to leave the country immediately on a merchant ship. However when they arrive at the dock they discover the ship is undergoing repairs and will not be ready for five days. They hide the money, split up, and agree to wait out the delay.

Zacharia reappears, having decided to find and keep the emeralds himself. Azad falls in love with Lena.

Zacharia identifies the thieves and kills Renzi, seeing to it that Ralph seems guilty of the crime.

Azad narrowly escapes the police with Lena, but he soon discovers that she is conspiring with Zacharia.

Ralph is arrested by police.

Azad and Zacharia have a confrontation which results in Zacharia losing the emeralds and being buried under wheat, while Azad escapes the police but without the jewels, underlining the "Crime does not pay" theme, as Zacharia was a crooked cop who tried to rob the thieves and keep the goods for himself, and Azad was a thief himself.

Cast

Production

The Burglar by David Goodis had been published in 1953 and filmed in 1956. Goodis was popular with French filmmakers; his novel Down There had been adapted by François Truffaut as Shoot the Piano Player (1961).

Filming took place in Athens and Paris.[1]

Reception

The film was a box office hit in France, being the sixth most popular movie of the year.[3][1]

The Los Angeles Times said "the scenery is lovely, Belmondo is fun to watch even in a flat, silly part like this" but that it was "finally an uninteresting and uninvolving movie" because "it has no reality except as a movie".[4]

The New York Times called it "yet another international caper film... that does nothing very well and almost everything in excess" in which the director would "fill up a great deal of film time with a device rather than with an action".[5]

Time Out said the film "suffers an overdose of sunshine and multi-national production values to emerge as just another glossy heist."[6]

References
  1. "Box office information for Le Casse". Box Office Story. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  2. JP. "Le Casse (1971)- JPBox-Office". www.jpbox-office.com. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  3. "Box Office Films of 1971". Box Office Story. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  4. Champlin, Charles (27 July 1972). "MOVIE REVIEW: Sharif, Belmondo in Stalker". Los Angeles Times. p. g28.
  5. Greenspun, Roger (15 June 1972). "The Burglars". New York Times. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  6. "The Burglars 1971 | Film review". Time Out Madrid. Retrieved 2019-09-03.
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