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Cercle Rouge, Le (re-release)

Universal acclaim
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by: Jean-Pierre Melville
Directed by: Jean-Pierre Melville
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 10, 2003
DVD: October 14, 2003
Running Time: 140 minutes, Color
Origin: France / Italy
Language(s): French (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Alain Delon, Bourvil, Gian Maria Volonté, Yves Montand, Paul Crauchet, Paul Amiot, Pierre Collet, and André Ekyan
A re-release of the 1970 French gangster film.
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
There is one cool, understated scene after another.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Watching Le Cercle Rouge, we're caught up in a world that, however improbable some of its twists and turns seem, strikes us as a perfect, imaginative creation.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
A glistening gem among caper movies, this impeccably elegant jewel-heist drama takes its title from Buddhist lore, its cast from France's great gallery of leading men, and its style from the unique blend of cinematic savoir-faire and brooding existential angst.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The antidote to every square tough-guy caper you've ever seen, and the inspiration for many great ones. It is an existential imperative to seek out a showing and burn rubber to get there, preferably in an excellent car.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
A slo-mo gem of gangster cool, of vintage Hollywood noir reimagined by a French new waver in love with American cars, American jazz, and the kind of trench-coated tough-guys embodied by Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
A dazzling epic of love, guns, gangsters and cigarettes.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
When it was released in the United States more than 30 years ago, its distributor hacked away 40 minutes of its precise structure. This rerelease restores every meticulous second of Melville's cinematic fantasy.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
Offers the kind of experience that makes you glad movies exist.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Andy Klein
It was Melville's second-to-last feature, and it shows him in top form, with a more generous dose of humor than usual.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
Melville seems to peer out from behind the camera with a reassuring wink and nod. Le Cercle Rouge is the most self-consciously cool of his famously underheated films noirs.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
For students of cool ... Le Cercle Rouge is required viewing.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine Peter Rainer
At its best, the film compares favorably to its obvious antecedents, "Rififi" (which Melville once hoped to direct) and "The Asphalt Jungle."
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
A work of leisurely development and tragic inevitability.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Bill Stamets
Key action points are edited with finesse, but the denouement, with its dutiful hail of gunfire, is heartless and mechanical.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
If you've got the patience, this is still one of the all-time exercises in cinematic cool.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Clearly a minor classic, mainly for reasons besides its crime story plot -- namely, the urbane fatalism of its cast and the overall mood of inevitability that hangs over every scene.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Steve K. gave it a10:
The transfer is pristine, the story is intriguing and, in it's genre, it's an absolute top rank example. What's not to love?
Anthony S. gave it a 9:
Subtle direction along with superb performances make what might seem like a banal story into a crime caper that has aged well. highly recommended.
Greg H. gave it a 7:
It...kind....of...drags....in.....some....spots....Good, but I don't think I would want to watch it again. It progresses a little too slowly, and contains a little too much detail in spots. I don't see how so many critics rated it at a hundred.
