Rififi in the City (1964)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Those who know Jess Franco's work only by his later, graphic films might be surprised by Rififi in the City, a solid film-noir. The book Immoral Tales compared Rififi in the City to The Lady from Shanghai, but there is only one scene, a clandestine meeting at an aquarium, that is a direct homage to the Welles film. A more fitting comparison would be Fritz Lang's The Big Heat. Franco is a film fan, so in addition to the Welles and Lang references, the director sprinkles homages to The 39 Steps, Kiss of Death, and probably other classic films as well. These add to the viewing fun of Rififi in the City without taking away from the its grim tone. The plot has Detective Miguel Mora obsessively chasing after politician Maurice Leprince, a well connected official who is responsible for most of the vice in the unnamed city. Leprince, an ex-Nazi, seldom gets his hands dirty, leaving that to his bodyguards and a shady nightclub manager, Puig. As the film opens, Detective Mora might have his man. Juan, an informer, has the proof. Then, Juan disappears, and Mora begins needling Leprince to return the missing man. After Juan's dead body is thrown into Mora's house, the detective becomes even more determined to nail the politician. Mora is not alone. Someone else is avenging Juan, murdering Leprince's bodyguards one at a time. Rififi in the City works as a film-noir. It features a good hero and villain. The ending is surprisingly downbeat. Even the mystery angle works better than expected. There are stumbles. Franco is not good at directing action scenes. Thus, the police raid on the nightclub at the climax of the film, which should be the film's set piece, comes across as haphazard and a missed opportunity. Still, Rififi in the City stands as one of the director's best made films. It might be too much of a standard film for some of the Franco fanatics, but it is a good one to show those who think of Franco as only a hack director of sex films.

I know it's hard to keep track of the endless mumber of movies Jess Franco carriedout during his 4 decades career ...sometimes 3 o 4 at a time , but if someone asks me to list only three among his more remarkable this would be one of those that would made the cut.Don't think for a second this is up to the Rififi's standards , Jess probably thought that could get some extra publicity by having Jean Servais so tried to sell this as a kind of Rififi follow up , but sadly all similarities ended up in the title .As a film noir it turns out to be quite weak at some points but it's also true that , as it happens with most of Jess' flicks , Rififi en la ciudad has its charms . Apparently action is located in an undetermined South American country but actually Jess filmed all the action in the south of in Spain and even with a restricted budget ambiance are well crafted and manages to give us the atmosphere Jess intended . Plot itself it's not a wonder, classical search for a killer mixed up with some revenge touches but is enough to keep you interested throughout the film . Main assets here is that Jess is not trying to do here his usual mix of sexplotation ,vampires ,lesbanism . He steps in a different ground and provided the level of the Spanish cinema in the late 50's I would say that he accomplished a fine impersonation of the Dassin and Melville works and ambiance's.

I do not know the background of this film, but it has features that later Jess Franco's films had: beautiful girls (young readers will be appalled by their large hairdos, but yes, women were using it like that, and I liked it), plenty of bad guys, coward and courageous cops, rotten politicians, a South American unnamed country sunny and reach in opportunities (for working people and cocaine traffickers). Other reviewers noticed how Franco's next films were a succession of cheap exploitative slashers, nudity, prostitution, gore, terror. Why? My answer is that maybe Franco thought, as time went by, that he needed money, and he was more serious than his audiences, and distributors. If he saw historical evolution right, after 1963 he understood that he made a film with a happy end (no, it's not a spoiler yet) that was out of pace with real life: we know now for certain that gangsters, former Nazis, people involved in drugs trafficking, when «democratic» elections by using power, fear, and all the votes money can buy. In a far, unnamed country in Latin America - nothing to affect English speakers... Franco did manage to film this in Madrid under a dictatorial regime, but his film was so good, too good in fact, that it has had almost no distribution, even with VHS and DVD. Or else, I've been distracted, and many fans of Franco too.And yet, Franco was placing all in front of our eyes. The first image is a political campaign poster, "Leprince es Justicia" (Leprince is Justice), but we FORGET it when the woman's voice starts speaking low of a gone lover, and the camera pans onto the beach house, and the seashore. The orchestra that starts playing all that black jazz score (by Jess Franco as Daniel J. White - also the wonderful cabaret numbers though the film), and an elegant pair of ankles and feet are doing dance steps on the chalk marks on the stage, 1-2-3-4... and on and on, but we FORGET that it means that her audience (us) do not care she is not what she pretends to be, a dancer, and as credits roll, we finally see her, the buxom blonde in a tight white dress, promising us kisses. A couple of black men are seen dating with brunettes, and one even has time to evade answering her about sort of thing was he dealing with - to be so rich, and to afford having a different girl every night, and promising them pricey cars, but we FORGET about him, as he is a mere underling to the big boss, and soon dispatched from the story. The cabaret owner is also the owner of the cotton industries, and an immigrant of April 1944, arriving without money from Nazi occupied Marseilles, France, but we FORGET that Franco plants this information in three distant occupied dialogs, never as a relevant matter but something that blurts out in the middle of something else. One person will come close to another person who is snoring loud after drinking an alcohol drink, open the person's shirt, extract a small key to a safe, and eventually finding out more than expected (yeah! I managed to write this without a spoiler!), and we FORGET that neither Orson Welles, nor Alfred Hitchock, ever managed such a long, thrilling suspense that had me on the edge of the chair, and yet unable to press fast forward - for I was as much afraid of that said person.The expression Rififi comes from the underground world of Brussels (I think) and it's almost impossible to translate, so in other languages (as in Spanish) it is either left alone, or a different approach must be used... Riffraff is not an explanation, and it is more than struggle, or fight, because it conveys despair, all-out, annihilation...The French title "Vous souvenez-vous de Paco?" (do you remember Paco, the most common short name in Spanish language countries...) is very intriguing. With it, Franco tells us that Paco will be easily forgotten by the men in the story, and in the audience, who will NEVER FORGET the French (or is it German?) that fled to South America to start a new life (or is it?). I (with my male brain, already forgot Paco's face), but Franco also told me that Paco will never be forgotten by the women who loved him (for his face, his body, his sex, or himself?) even if he had not loved them. Nina's and Pilar's speeches, on camera, or in a letter read later by a police detective, mark the difference between man and woman in a relationship - and suddenly I find that this is not just an engagé director settling a political matter, it is a genial director putting us face-to-face with the ages old question of love, sex, and relationships. In 1963 - five years before the summer of 1968.The beautiful cinematography in black and white and the cheap decors somewhat manages to give to the film all the bright colors - and shades - of Latin America, but the original story, or its magnificent screen adaptation leads us to the high levels of human and social statements film directors ever made in a movie.I'm ashamed I only knew Jesus Franco by some musical scores in sexploitation films, and a couple of Doctor Orloffs. I paid US$8.37 for the original version in Spanish, no subtitles, Clásicos Imprescindibles del Cine Español, at a discount sale, that runs exactly 99 min 30 sec., format 1.85:1 (screen 4:3), an excellent, blameless print by Mercury Films & Video, and Filmfax Homevideo. I'm not selling it for US$83.70 even if you ask politely. Unless you've just won a democratic election in your State - like in this film's there is a decider second vote after the first results are counted - and you, and your friends, make me an offer THAT I CAN'T POSSIBLY REFUSE. (pun intended)

This movie in crisp, expertly lighted black and white has not one boring second. It may not be the greatest piece of cinematic art, but there is a lot of artistic ambition on display so that the movie may well suck you in for the odd 90 minutes.The title is a rip off from Jules Dassin's masterpiece Rififi Chez les Hommes. The main villain here is none other than Belgian character actor Jean Servais who played the top gangster in the original Rififi. The story line reminded me more of Dashiell Hammett's The Glass Key: The Servais character is a gangster and night club owner who also runs for senator. The political campaign takes up quite some time, with a huge mass of Servais posters in the streets, a propaganda march in a public space, a full fledged political speech and Servais kissing an old woman and later complaining to his aides that she smelled of onions. A police informer and ladies man close to the Servais character was killed (he is not deposited on the steps of a police station but thrown through the window into a police man's private residence – which might give an idea of the degree of violence dealt out here) and it is basically about the search of the killer and a succession of further killings to avenge that death. The negative nature of politics in general takes quite a lot of space which always surprises me a little in movies that were apparently made in Spain during the Franco regime. Besides Servais there are a lot of really picturesque character actors of both sexes on display.