| Classe Tous Risques | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Claude Sautet |
| Written by | Claude Sautet José Giovanni Pascal Jardin |
| Based on | Classe tous risques by José Giovanni |
| Produced by | Jean Darvey |
| Starring | Lino Ventura Sandra Milo Jean-Paul Belmondo |
| Cinematography | Ghislain Cloquet |
| Edited by | Albert Jurgenson |
| Music by | Georges Delerue |
Production companies | Mondex Films Les Films Odéon Filmsonor Zebra Films |
| Distributed by | Cinédis |
Release date |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Countries | France Italy |
| Languages | French Italian |
| Box office | 1,726,839 admissions (France) |
Classe tous risques ([klastuʁisk]; literally "All-Risk Class", but also a pun on the French expression "Classe Touriste", Economy Class), which was first released in the United States asThe Big Risk, is a 1960 French-Italian gangster film directed byClaude Sautet and starringLino Ventura,Jean-Paul Belmondo andSandra Milo. An adaptation of the novel of the same name byJosé Giovanni, who collaborated with Sautet andPascal Jardin on the screenplay, the film tells the story of a French mobster on the run with his family, who returns to Paris with help from a new criminal acquaintance and confronts the members of his old gang.
Now widely considered a masterpiece, at the time of its release, the film was somewhat overshadowed by theFrench New Wave. However, it did influence French cinema, especiallyJean-Pierre Melville's subsequent work.
Years after gangster Abel Davos fled France with his wife, Thérèse, and baby son, his money is running out and the Italian police are closing in on him, so he decides that, although he wastried in absentia andsentenced to death in France, it is time to return home. He puts Thérèse and his two sons (the younger of which was born after Abel went on the run) on a train toVentimiglia at theMilano Centrale railway station and then, with his friend Raymond Naldi, robs a pair of bank couriers before heading to Ventimiglia himself, barely making it past a roadblock on the way out of Milan. The robbery did not yield as much money as expected, so, to enter France, Abel steals a boat inSanremo and lands with his family and Raymond at night inMenton, but they are surprised by two customs officers, and there is a shootout. Raymond, Thérèse, and both of the officers are killed, setting off a massive policemanhunt.
Abel and his boys make it toNice, where Abel calls Henri "Riton" Vintran, a member of his old gang, in Paris and asks him to contact their former partners Raoul Fargier and Jean "Jeannot" Martin and come get him. Although Abel once provided the money for Riton to open hisbistro and got Fargier, who now owns a hotel, out of jail, neither man wants to risk his now-comfortable life by getting too involved with Abel, and they convince Jeannot, who would like to retrieve Abel, that he should not go either, as he is out onbail. Instead, they buy an ambulance and recruit Éric Stark, a good-natured young gangster who is a stranger to them, to do the job.
After a couple of days, the owner of therooming house to which Riton sent Abel kicks him out due to the increased police presence in the area, and Abel and his boys end up sleeping on the beach. He is glad when Éric, who says he knew Raymond, arrives, though he is disappointed his friends did not come themselves. On the way to Paris, Éric saves a young actress named Liliane from her tour manager and offers her a ride, and she agrees to pose as a nurse for Abel, who is wrapped in fake bandages, to help get through any police roadblocks they come across.
When Fargier suggests sending Abel out of town to live with one of his cousins, Abel accuses his friends of trying to get rid of him and angrily storms out of Riton's bistro. He sends his sons to live with Chapuis, a friend of his father, and goes to stay in the separate maid's room that comes with Éric's apartment. Éric starts to date Liliane while he arranges to get Abel a forged passport and offers to work with Abel, but Abel says he is just doing one last job to get some money for himself and his sons and going overseas. All he can think to do is rob Arthur Gibelin, an interior decorator whofences stolen jewels, and when Fargier hears about this, he worries he might be next.
Éric catches a private detective who is following him to locate Abel, and Abel discovers Gibelin hired the man. He tricks Gibelin into meeting him and gets the fence to admit Fargier had revealed Éric might know where he was hiding. Abel kills Gibelin and then Fargier, whose wife dies of shock, and Riton agrees to cooperate with the police, who storm Eric's building. Éric tries to warn Abel and is shot in the leg, which alerts Abel and allows him to escape. Jeannot, feeling guilty, helps Abel and finds out where Riton is hiding, but Abel says he is no longer interested, as his actions have already caused too many unintended deaths and injuries. He gives Jeannot some money to get Éric a lawyer and sends his old friend away.
As Abel walks down a crowded Parisian sidewalk,voice-overnarration explains that he was arrested a few days later and subsequently tried, sentenced, and executed.
The character of Abel Davos was based on a real person named Abel Danos (known as "Le Mammouth" because of his girth), who writerJosé Giovanni had met in prison. From 1941 to 1944, Danos was a henchman for theCarlingue, and afterWorld War II he was convicted ofcollaboration and sentenced to death. He was shot on 13 March 1952.
France's Mondex Films, Les Films Odéon, and Filmsonor, in collaboration with Italy's Zebra Films, produced the film. Principal photography took place from 7 October to 8 December 1959, and included locations in Nice, Paris, and Milan.[1]
The film was released on 23 March 1960 in France,[1] where it recorded 1,726,839 admissions.[2]
In a 2005 review of the re-release of the film,A. O. Scott ofThe New York Times wrote: "Claude Sautet'sClasse Tous Risques is the kind of French movie that makes you want to throw on your trench coat, light up a cigarette and shoot somebody. Originally released in 1960, it was lost in the frenzy of theNouvelle Vague, which made its straightforward use of genre look a bit old-fashioned. [...] It is worth seeking out, not only becauseClasse Tous Risques represents a missing piece of film history - a link between the great postwar policiers and the brooding 1960's gangster dramas ofJean-Pierre Melville - but because it is a tough and touching exploration of honor and friendship among thieves."[3]Kenneth Turan ofLos Angeles Times wrote in 2006 that "To come acrossClasse Tous Risques is like discovering a bottle of marvelous French wine you didn't remember you had, opening it and finding it every bit as delicious as its reputation promised."
