Review of Bob le Flambeur (1956) by Tomas T — 18 Sep 2009
Bob Le Flambeur was exactly what I was expecting from Melville, a straight and plain simple heist movie with no side stories. The movie focuses solely on the main character, Bob a retired old school gangster who cannot help his nature and is pulled into one last heist before retirement.
The script gives ample time for the main character to develop, in fact, half of the movie is about the backstory while second half focuses on the heist itself. Due to the deep backstory the viewer really gets into the character and lives the events through him. Bob is a straight up character, flamboyant and addicted gambler (with slot machine in his closet!) who lives by a strict gentleman code. In the good old times these gentleman gangsters respected their women and did not need ammo in their guns to pull off a robbery. This is a stark contrast to their modern day equivalents which the movie refers as hoods who have no respect for these silent rules of conduct.
Post war France is the perfect setting for the movie, its sigar smoke filled bar's and larger than life characters create the perfect athmosphere for a intelligent crime movie. Bob le Flambeur has a classical feeling in it with its gentleman gangsters and beautiful, yet sneaky women. Must see for all heist fans.
This review of Bob le Flambeur (1956) was written by Tomas T on 18 Sep 2009.
Bob le Flambeur has generally received very positive reviews.
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