Product Description

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68250 in DVD
• Brand: IMAGE ENT.
• Released on: 2008-06-17
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 103 minutes

Features

• 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

Amazon.com
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 José 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

Customer Reviews

A French Gangster Film Upstaged in 1960 by Godard's Breathless.
Perhaps best known for his superb 1991 film, Un Coeur en Hiver (A Heart in Winter), Claude Sautet's earlier, crisp black-and-white, 60s gangster film, Classe tous risques (Consider All Risks), stars Lino Ventura and Jean-Paul Belmondo (two icons of French cinema), and Sandra Milo. Banned from 1961 to 1968, and based on a novel by José Giovanni, the film has a Jean-Pierre Melville-Bob le Flambeur influence. After pulling off a daring payroll heist on the streets of Milan (where he has been hiding for roughly a decade), French fugitive gang boss Abel Davos (Ventura) returns to Paris, despite a French death sentence. Before completing this one last job of his career, Davos puts his Italian wife Therese (Simone France) and two sons on a train to France. Then his own Milan getaway goes awry, and Abel and his partner in crime, Raymond (Stan Krol), wind up on a boat to Nice. Hunted by the police, Davos' former friends send a seemingly inexperienced kid in a loud, tweed jacket named Eric Stark (Jean-Paul Belmondo of Godard's Breathless) to accompany him back to Paris. Initially insulted by what he perceives to be an act of dishonor, Abel soon warms up to the kid, who has a certain savoir fair with the French girls (Milo). Although Belmondo received all the attention for his performance in Breathless, which was released in 1960--the same year as Sautet's film, Classe tous risques remains an undiscovered French gem of ganster film that will appeal to anyone who likes French cinema in the tradition of Bob le Flambeur, Le Samourai, Rififi, or Le Cercle Rouge.

The Criterion edition of this film features a newly restored transfer; excerpts from Claude Sautet ou la magie invisible, a 2003 documentary on the director by writers N. T. Binh and Dominique Rabourdin; an interview with Classe tous risques novelist and screenwriter José Giovanni; interview footage featuring actor Lino Ventura discussing his career; the original French and U.S. trailers; and new essays by director Bertrand Tavernier and Binh, a reprinted interview with Sautet, and a 1962 tribute by Jean-Pierre Melville.

G. Merritt

French gangsters minus trench-coats and the famous Code, but with the excellent Lino Ventura
Classe Tous Risques (The Big Risk) is a French gangster movie that doesn't try for style. That's why it has style. Because the movie is so underplayed and so matter-of-fact, it becomes more and more involving. And because Abel Davos is played by Lino Ventura, we wind up emotionally invested in this taciturn, tough killer who loves his wife and kids, has an encounter with customs agents on the shore near Nice at night that neither he nor we expect, and who proves just as willing to shoot a cop or a betrayer with as little emotion as flicking off a bit of lint. We first meet Davos in Italy with his wife and their two small boys, one about 9 and one 4.

"This man was Abel Davos, sentenced to death in absentia," we're told. "On the run for years, he had watched his resources dwindle, even as his anxiety kept him on the move. With the Italian police closing in each day, France was again his best bet. Maybe he'd been forgotten."

Davos was a top gangster in Paris who took care of his friends. That was several years ago. A heist to give him money to return to France goes very wrong. Now he's hiding out with his two kids. He calls his friends in Paris to help him out. He and his kids need to get from Nice to Paris but the police are hunting him and they've set up roadblocks. For Davos' two best friends, time has passed and they've moved on. They don't want to put themselves at risk, and for what? Obligation gives may to caution. So they hire a young thief, Eric Stark (Jean-Paul Belmondo), to pick up Davos and the children in an ambulance, then to drive to Paris with Davos heavily bandaged and the children hidden. We're on a journey where Davos' options are increasingly limited, where he must find ways to have his children cared for, where he realizes there are no more ties of friendship, where betrayal seems likely, and where quite possibly his only friend left is Eric Stark.

This somewhat cynical movie works so well because it does its job without fussing about. There are no trench coats with pulled-up collars, no toying with the melodrama of the gangster code so many French directors have loved. Classe tous Risques gives us Abel Davos, a man who once was somebody, who now is sliding down to be nobody, and who reacts with violence and resignation.

Lino Ventura dominates the movie, yet when he is paired with Jean-Paul Belmondo a curious chemistry happens. Ventura as Davos is grim and worried about caring for his sons. He is humiliated by his situation. He is a tough man who sees killing someone, if needed, as just part of the business he's in. Belmondo as the young thief who initially is sent to be an expendable driver and winds up being a friend to count on, provides the brightness that keeps the movie from being just one more ride down the elevator. Belmondo was 27 and looks younger. His unlikely star power as a lead actor -- broken nose, under-slung jaw -- shines right off the screen. He makes Erik a match for Ventura when they share a scene. And Belmondo's scenes with Liliane (Sandra Milo), the young woman who becomes his girl friend, radiate charm and good-natured sex appeal. The ending is bittersweet fate, and without a stylistic posture in sight. We hear Davos say, "Abel's gone. There's nothing left." It would be well worth watching Classe tous Risques to learn what he means.

There are many fine French gangster films. I'd place this one right there with Touchez Pas au Grisbi - Criterion Collection and Bob le Flambeur - Criterion Collection. To see one of Lino Ventura's finest performances, watch Army of Shadows - Criterion Collection. They are all Criterion releases, as this one is. The DVD transfer is fine and there are several interesting extras.

review of Classe Tous Risques
This is a classic French film noire starring Leno Ventura. Being film noire, things don't end well. Jean-Pierre Melville directed this crime-gone-wrong.