Le cercle rouge 1970

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: Cercle's set piece -- which arrives well beyond the midpoint -- never has the carat-weight of the gem mounted in the middle of Rififi, but once it has turned that corner, the movie begins to soar. Read more

Marta Barber, Miami Herald: One well-choreographed, beautifully shot and definitely cool cops-and-robbers film. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: A classic of the clenched-fist, dark-skied, doom-laden world of noir. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Enthrallingly retro-cool. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The director's penultimate work. Read more

Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times: A dazzling epic of love, guns, gangsters and cigarettes. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: A moody, deliberately paced meditation on destiny (and style) enlivened by stunning bits of business. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The antidote to every square tough-guy caper you've ever seen, and the inspiration for many great ones. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Stylish, meticulous and moody, thanks largely to the work of cinematographer Henri Decae. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: The movie wraps itself around you like a pleasurably constricting vise, so that long before its climactic heist ... you find yourself rapt, on the edge of your seat, unable to blink. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Henri Decae's (1915-1987) marvelously precise cinematography, inspiringly attuned to Melville's tragic vision of the lives and deaths of the most stoical criminals in the noir genre, is alone worth the price of admission. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Le Cercle Rouge offers the kind of experience that makes you glad movies exist. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: There is one cool, understated scene after another. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A minor classic, mainly for reasons besides its crime story plot -- namely, the urbane fatalism of its cast and the overall mood of inevitability that hangs over every scene. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: If you ever wanted to know how to look good wearing a trenchcoat, lighting a cigarette, handling a revolver, drinking a whiskey or overpowering an armed guard, Jean-Pierre Melville's 1970 gangster drama is your guide. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Melville's special achievement was to relocate the American gangster film in France, and to incorporate his own steely poetic and philosophical obsessions. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: The elegantly functional script pivots on a neat series of reversals and chance intersections. Read more