This entertaining French-made film has no frills, but plenty of thrills.

| Oct 24, 2023

Once again, Melville and his cinematographer, Henri Decae, have achieved something that's very nice to look at and also tightly enough constructed to follow with interest throughout. There is, in particular, a superb jewel robbery sequence.

| Oct 24, 2023

There's a lot of happenstance, but it's tautly directed, and the individual crooks and cops, while fond of Gallic platitudes, are well observed.

| Oct 24, 2023

French thriller, full of holes, with a reasonably ingenious robbery sequence halfway through.

| Oct 24, 2023

Melville's influence can also be felt in works by John Woo, Michael Mann and Quentin Tarantino, and Le Cercle Rouge is a good primer on Melville's stripped-down, gritty French take on Raymond Chandler-style trench-coats-and-cigarettes noir.

| Sep 13, 2021

Melville's plotting is outstanding; the characters are fully developed in multiple shades of gray; and the dialogue is crisp.

| Jul 13, 2021

Grimly elegant...

| Jun 21, 2021

Thanks to Melville's spare approach, the film feels cool in both senses of the phrase and there's time to really focus on the look.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 25, 2020

Opts for bleak realism in the outcome and unhurried pacing for the execution.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 30, 2020

It makes you side with the calm collected criminals. You truly believe they are all professionals and you want them to get away with the caper.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 15, 2018

[Jean-Pierre Melville] gives the acquisitive fury of his characters a contemplative edge that has proven enduringly influential.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 30, 2016

Melville views it all at a distance and with a slow kind of precision that is missing from modern movies. There's no flash here, just criminal behavior observed with an eye for detail.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 11, 2011

Luscious modern French noir.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 9, 2008

A glistening gem among caper movies.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 3, 2008

A seminal heist movie.

| Mar 3, 2008

Jean-Pierre Melville is one of the most remarkable figures in world cinema, though he remains little known.

| Aug 1, 2007

You have to admire Jean-Pierre Melville's ambition to make a sophisticated "b-movie" that is moody, intelligent and consistently engaging.

Full Review | Original Score: 83/100 | May 9, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 25, 2007

A classic cornerstone of the heist genre from a master of the nouvelle vague.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 30, 2006

Melville's special achievement was to relocate the American gangster film in France, and to incorporate his own steely poetic and philosophical obsessions.

| Feb 9, 2006