Classe Tous Risques - Criterion Collection

Classe Tous Risques - Criterion Collection
by Claude Sautet

Classe Tous Risques - Criterion Collection

List Price: ~~$29.95~~
Our Price: $26.99
You Save: $2.96 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $17.00 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases

Compare Prices for Classe Tous Risques - Criterion Collection

Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD Cover Information

Actor: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Lino Ventura, Marcel Dalio, Michel Ardan, Sandra Milo
Director: Claude Sautet
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: French (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 103 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-06-17
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion

Movie Reviews of Classe Tous Risques - Criterion Collection

Movie Review: Neorealism meets Noir
Summary: 5 Stars

Four decades before anyone heard of Tony Soprano, Lino Ventura delivers an all-too-human gangster in 1960's Classe Tous Risques, co-starring a relative unknown named Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Sentenced to death in absentia in France, Ventura's "Abel Davos" has spent a decade in Italy on the lam. With the Italian police closing in, he performs a daring daylight snatch of 500,000 lira in the middle of Milan, then with his crony and his family (wife and 2 sons) tries to make their way back to France, hoping somehow that he's been forgotten.

Unfortunately, not only have the authorities not forgotten, his former cronies would like to forget him. Instead of personally getting involved, they end up sending a stranger, Eric Stark (Belmondo) to retrieve him (Davos has made his way to Nice) and bring him back to Paris. A quiet friendship and respect develops between the two men, which is literally and figuratively the heart of the story and contrasts well with the betrayal of Davos' former gang.

Sautet in some respects trumps Melville by adding an emotional component to this noir that Melville's work usually overlooks. This elevates Classes Tous Risques into the Gangster Pantheon.

Write your own review

More Classe Tous Risques - Criterion Collection reviews:
1 2

Summary of Classe Tous Risques - Criterion Collection

Though sentenced to death in France, in absentia, former gangland chief Abel Davos (Lino Ventura) sneaks back to Paris with his children after hiding out in Milan for nearly a decade. Accompanied by appointed guardian Eric Stark (Jean-Paul Belmondo, in his first film after Breathless) and beset by backstabbing former friends, Abel begins a journey through the postwar Parisian underworld that's equal parts throat-grabbing and soul-searching. A character study of a career criminal at the end of his rope, this rugged noir from Claude Sautet (Un coeur en hiver) is a thrilling highlight of sixties French cinema.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES: . New, restored high-definition digital transfer . Excerpts from Claude Sautet ou La magie invisible, a documentary on the director by writers N.T. Binh and Dominique Rabourdin . Archival interview footage featuring actor Lino Ventura discussing his career . Original French and U.S. release trailers . New and improved English subtitle translation . PLUS: New essays by director Bertrand Tavernier and critic N. T. Binh, a reprinted interview with Sautet, and a tribute by Jean-Pierre Melville

Claude Sautet's neo-realist Classe Tous Risques (loosely translated as "all-risk insurance") deserves the kind of acclaim accorded classic American noirs, like They Live by Night. As with Nicholas Ray before him, the Frenchman behind the exquisitely restrained chamber pieces Un Coeur en Hiver and Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud combines genre tropes with tenderness. It's a tricky balance, and far too many filmmakers succumb to pathos when making the attempt. Milan-based gangster Abel Davos (former wrestler Lino Ventura, Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows) won't hesitate to plug a foe, but dotes on his two sons, wife Therese (Simone France), and partner Raymond (Stan Krol). When a robbery goes bad, however, several of those nearest and dearest to Davos lose their lives. In swoops ex-boxer Eric Stark (Jean-Paul Belmondo, just off Breathless) who helps him escape to Paris--by ambulance. Damsel-in-distress Liliane (8 1/2's Sandra Milo) joins the duo on their dangerous journey. Round Midnight's Bertrand Tavernier describes the matter-of-fact ending as "abrupt, unsentimental, and poignant." Written by ex-con Jos? Giovanni (Le Trou) and shot by Ghislain Cloquet (Mouchette), Sautet's first feature, after assisting Georges Franju and Jacques Becker, got lost amidst the French New Wave. It may not surpass Melville for cool, but rivals him in the hood-with-heart department (and Melville greatly admired the film). Supplements include the French and US trailers, interviews with Giovanni and Tavernier from the 2000 documentary Claude Sautet ou la Magie Invisible, and comments from Ventura, circa 1959-1987 about the movie and his career. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Art House & International DVD Video

DVD Video

Movies most talked about in Know me by the films I see - January 2009

Flight from Ashiya ( Ashiya kara no hiko ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Spain ]
DVD
Best price: $18.99

Half Nelson
Sony; Release date: 2007-02-13; DVD
Best price: $6.07
Price in other shops: ~~$14.94~~

Alvarez Kelly
Sony; Release date: 1999-09-14; DVD
Best price: $5.69
Price in other shops: ~~$14.94~~

Anaconda
Sony; Release date: 1998-01-20; DVD
Best price: $5.93
Price in other shops: ~~$14.94~~

Gremlins (Special Edition)
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2002-08-20; DVD
Best price: $2.40
Price in other shops: ~~$14.98~~

The Bedford Incident
Sony; Release date: 2003-09-23; DVD
Best price: $12.27
Price in other shops: ~~$19.94~~

Cheyenne Autumn
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-02-13; DVD
Best price: $6.97
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

The Long Ships
Sony; Release date: 2003-06-24; DVD
Best price: $12.12
Price in other shops: ~~$19.94~~

How the West Was Won (Three-Disc Special Edition) Image

How the West Was Won (Three-Disc Special Edition)
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-09-09; DVD
Best price: $12.05
Price in other shops: ~~$20.98~~

Two Rode Together [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ]
DVD
Best price: $24.35

Similar DVD Movies

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters - Criterion Collection
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-07-01; DVD
Best price: $23.99
Price in other shops: ~~$39.95~~

The Thief of Bagdad - Criterion Collection
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-05-27; DVD
Best price: $26.97
Price in other shops: ~~$39.95~~

Trafic - Criterion Collection
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-07-15; DVD
Best price: $25.50
Price in other shops: ~~$39.95~~

Vampyr - Criterion Collection
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-07-22; DVD
Best price: $27.36
Price in other shops: ~~$39.95~~

The Fire Within - Criterion Collection
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-05-13; DVD
Best price: $19.96
Price in other shops: ~~$29.95~~

Blast of Silence - Criterion Collection
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-04-15; DVD
Best price: $19.07
Price in other shops: ~~$29.95~~

The Lovers - Criterion Collection
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-05-13; DVD
Best price: $19.33
Price in other shops: ~~$29.95~~

The Furies - Criterion Collection
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-06-24; DVD
Best price: $25.00
Price in other shops: ~~$39.95~~

Le Doulos - Criterion Collection
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-10-07; DVD
Best price: $27.31
Price in other shops: ~~$39.95~~

Le Deuxi?me Souffle
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-10-07; DVD
Best price: $27.34
Price in other shops: ~~$39.95~~