New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
xx Baby on Board
xx Bob Funk
62 Cherry Blossoms
38 Confessions of a Shopaholic
38 Crossing Over
38 Dark Streets
58 Defiance
45 Fanboys
31 Fired Up
37 Forever Strong
34 Friday the 13th
72 Gran Torino
47 He's Just Not That Into You
47 Inkheart
52 International, The
45 Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
50 Madea Goes to Jail
51 Morning Light
51 My Bloody Valentine 3-D
29 New in Town
28 Nobel Son
40 Outlander
39 Paul Blart: Mall Cop
56 Phoebe in Wonderland
36 Pink Panther 2
xx Powder Blue
69 Revolutionary Road
20 Spinning Into Butter
17 Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
64 Thousand Years of Good Prayers, A
63 Tokyo!
74 Two Lovers
56 Valkyrie
91 Waltz with Bashir
22 What Goes Up

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Rififi (re-release)
Rialto Pictures


8.7

based on 13 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 9 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: Not rated

Starring Jean Servais, Carl Mohner, Robert Manuel, Jules Dassin, Marie Sabouret, and Janine Darcey

A reissue of a classic French caper thriller in which Tony, fresh out of prison, teams with three cohorts to pull off a major jewel heist which goes awry. The film's title is slang for "rough stuff," and it's robbery sequence is famous for its exciting, completely silent robbery scene.

GENRE(S):	Crime
WRITTEN BY:	Jules Dassin René Wheeler Auguste Le Breton (also novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Jules Dassin
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 24, 2001 Video: April 24, 2001 Theatrical: July 21, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	115 minutes, BW
ORIGIN:	France
LANGUAGE(S):	French (with English subtitles)

Originally released in 1955. Director Jules Dassin took home the Best Director award at Cannes that year.

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...

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Among the picture's many surprises is a superb robbery scene filmed in a near-total silence that contrasts exhilaratingly with the noisy flamboyance of more recent films in this venerable genre.

100

Boston Globe Jay Carr

It's terse, atmospheric, fatalistic, with vertiginous camera angles and edits offsetting its gray documentary flatness.

100

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

The new print does justice to Philippe Agostini's splendidly atmospheric cinematography.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

No matter how many heists you've seen, how many gangs you've watched fall apart or how many aging crooks you've seen walk up a mean street to a violent destiny, Rififi never loses its ruthless grace and force.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The granddaddy of all caper/heist movies. The work that defined the genre for the subsequent four decades of filmmakers, none of whom was able to surpass it for style or suspense.

100

San Francisco Examiner G. Allen Johnson

A sweaty-browed exercise in precision filmmaking, but one that doesn't cheat you with wisps of tension and the pretense of attitude.

100

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

But the human elements -- jealousy, anger, weakness, fortitude, loyalty, vengeance and honor, all acted out by a resolutely realistic cast -- make the movie extraordinary.

100

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Rififi, with its stark visuals, dark humor and constrained performances, earned Dassin the Best Director nod at the Cannes Film Festival and a secure place in film history.

100

TV Guide Frank Lovece

Manages to inject more than a little humor into this tension-filled genre classic.

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

It becomes as savage as ''Reservoir Dogs,'' ''The Killing,'' or any of the other dozens of films over which it still casts a shadow.

100

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

One of the great crime thrillers, the benchmark all succeeding heist films have been measured against, it's no musty museum piece but a driving, compelling piece of work, redolent of the air of human frailty and fatalistic doom.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A vivid exercise in hokum that more or less invented the idea of French film noir...and not just for Americans.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The opening half-hour--the burglary of a jewelry store, filmed in meticulous detail--is as good as its inspiration in The Asphalt Jungle, but the film turns moralistic and sour in the last half, when the thieves fall out.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

ryan h gave it a2:
Very boring.

Sandra Z. gave it a10:
This movie was very well done in every way plot, suspenseful and held my interest for the entire film.

Dave S. gave it a10:
Awesome.

Yoon C. gave it a 9:
A brilliantly streamlined heist thriller that progresses along genre lines and then grows darker and more complex as it examines the crossfire of motivations that bring the entire venture down to a crashing climax.

Emily C. gave it a 10:
A great film for anyone who's interested in Caper movies to watch. This film truly was the inspiration for popular films today, such as Ocean's Eleven, Heist, and even Mission Impossible. Watch on a rainy day to get the full effect of a grim, crime filled Paris.

Michael F. gave it a 10:
Fantastic and original for a heist caper.

Rififi (re-release) Rialto Pictures

Rififi (re-release)
Rialto Pictures