Le cercle rouge

Alain Delon plays a master thief, fresh out of prison, who crosses paths with a notorious escapee (Gian Maria Volonté) and an alcoholic ex-cop (Yves Montand). The unlikely trio plot a heist, against impossible odds, until a relentless inspector and their own pasts seal their fates. Jean-Pierre Melville's Le cercle rouge combines honorable antiheroes, coolly atmospheric cinematography, and breathtaking set pieces to create a masterpiece of crime cinema.

Jean-Pierre Melville
France
1970
140 minutes
Color
1.85:1
French
Spine #218

Special Features

Newly restored uncut version, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
Excerpts from Cinéastes de notre temps: “Jean-Pierre Melville”
New video interviews with assistant director Bernard Stora and Rui Nogueria, the author of Melville on Melville
Thirty minutes of rare on-set and archival footage, featuring interviews with director Jean-Pierre Melville and stars Alain Delon, Yves Montand, and André Bourvil
Original theatrical trailer and 2003 Rialto Pictures rerelease trailer
Production and publicity stills, poster gallery (DVD only)
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by film critics Michael Sragow and Chris Fujiwara, excerpts from Melville on Melville, a reprinted interview with composer Eric Demarsan, and an appreciation from director John Woo
New cover by Art Chantry Design Co.

Purchase Options

Blu-Ray 1 Disc Out Of Print SRP: $39.95

DVD 2 Discs Out Of Print SRP: $39.95

Special Features

Newly restored uncut version, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
Excerpts from Cinéastes de notre temps: “Jean-Pierre Melville”
New video interviews with assistant director Bernard Stora and Rui Nogueria, the author of Melville on Melville
Thirty minutes of rare on-set and archival footage, featuring interviews with director Jean-Pierre Melville and stars Alain Delon, Yves Montand, and André Bourvil
Original theatrical trailer and 2003 Rialto Pictures rerelease trailer
Production and publicity stills, poster gallery (DVD only)
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by film critics Michael Sragow and Chris Fujiwara, excerpts from Melville on Melville, a reprinted interview with composer Eric Demarsan, and an appreciation from director John Woo
New cover by Art Chantry Design Co.

Cast & Credits

Cast

Alain Delon: Corey
André Bourvil: Captain Mattei
Gian Maria Volonté: Vogel
Yves Montand: Jansen
Paul Crauchet: The fence
Paul Amiot: Chief of Internal Affairs
Pierre Collet: Prison guard
André Ekyan: Rico
Jean-Pierre Posier: Mattei's assistant
François Périer: Santi

Credits

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Producer: Robert Dorfmann
Sound: Jean Nény
Sets: Théo Meurisse
Cinematography: Henri Decaë
Music: Eric Demarsan
Editing: Marie-Sophie Dubus
Cameraman: Charles-Henri Montel
Costumes: Colette Baudot
Assistant director: Bernard Stora

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Jean-Pierre Melville

Director

Though remembered now primarily for his intense, spare 1960s gangster films, French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville had a startlingly varied career, encompassing wartime dramas, psychosexual character studies, and a collaboration with Jean Cocteau. Jean-Pierre Grumbach (he would eventually change his name to Melville to honor the American author of Moby Dick) fought during World War II, first in the French army and then in the Resistance; those experiences would often inspire his work to come. After the war ended, he pursued his love of film with dogged obsession. Though a lover of classical studio directors (William Wyler and John Huston among them), Melville worked mostly independently, even building his own studio. It was this fierce do-it-yourself attitude, and such startling, uncompromising films as Les enfants terribles and Bob le flambeur, that appealed to the filmmakers of the French New Wave, who adopted Melville as a godfather of sorts (Godard even famously gave him a cameo in Breathless). During the New Wave, however, Melville went his own way, making highly idiosyncratic crime films—classically mounted if daringly existential—that were beholden to no trend, including Le doulos, Le deuxième soufflé, and Le samouraï. His most personal movie was Army of Shadows, which, though misunderstood upon its initial French release in 1969, is now widely considered a masterpiece. Melville died of a heart attack in 1973 at the age of fifty-five.