Taglines: The Red Circle is a powerful in-depth study of the French Underworld.
Le Cercle Rouge movie storyline. On the eve of his release after five years imprisoned, the thief Corey is contacted by one guard of the prison that offers him a jewelry heist. However Corey seeks out his former boss Rico and steals money from him. Rico sends two gangsters to hunt Corey down and retrieve the stolen amount.
Meanwhile the criminal Vogel is transported by train by the Police Officer Mattei and succeeds to escape. Corey drives from Marseille to Paris and Vogel hides in the trunk of his car. Corey finds him but does not object to ride Vogel to Paris hidden in the trunk. When the gangsters sent by Rico cut in Corey’s car, Vogel saves him from the criminals, but Corey loses the money.
Without money, Corey decides to heist the jewelry with Vogel and invites the former police detective Jansen to team-up with them. The trio executes a perfect heist but Rico is seeking revenge and Mattei is an unethical but efficient police officer capable to use any means to resolve the case.
Le Cercle Rouge (French pronunciation: [lə sɛʁkl ʁuʒ], “The Red Circle”) is a 1970 Franco-Italian crime film set mostly in Paris. It was directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and stars Alain Delon, Andre Bourvil, Gian Maria Volonté, François Périer and Yves Montand. It is known for its climactic heist sequence which is about half an hour in length and has almost no dialogue.
The film’s title means “The Red Circle” and refers to the film’s epigraph which translates as “Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, drew a circle with a piece of red chalk and said: “When men, even unknowingly, are to meet one day, whatever may befall each, whatever the diverging paths, on the said day, they will inevitably come together in the red circle.”
About the Story
In Marseille, a prisoner named Corey is released early for good behaviour. Shortly before he leaves, a prison warden tips him off about a prestigious jewellery shop that he could rob in Paris. Corey goes to the house of Rico, a former associate who has let him down and with whom his former girlfriend now lives, and forcefully removes money and a handgun from Rico’s safe.
Then he goes to a billiard hall, where two of Rico’s men find him. After killing one, knocking the other out and taking his gun, Corey buys a large (American) car and, hiding both handguns in the boot, starts for Paris. On the way up, listening to jazz and news on the radio, he encounters a police roadblock.
The same morning another prisoner, Vogel, who was being taken on a train from Marseille to Paris for interrogation by the well-respected Commissaire Mattei, manages to escape in open country. Mattei chases him, misses him, orders roadblocks to be set and supervises the manhunt. Meanwhile, Corey, who has understood what this huge police activity is about, stops at a roadside grill in the epicentre of the manhunt, leaving his car boot unlocked. Vogel crosses a stream to send dogs off his scent, reaches the roadside grill and hides in the boot of Corey’s car.
Corey, who has seen him and had been waiting for this, drives off into an open field and tells Vogel to get out, that he is safe. After a tense confrontation where Vogel waves one of Corey’s guns, he realizes that Corey has just been released from prison that morning and is trying to save him. The two drive off with Vogel back in the boot. Shortly after, a car with two of Rico’s men catches up and forces Corey off the road. The pair take him into the woods, take his money and are about to kill him when Vogel, emerging from the boot with the guns, shoots both dead.
Corey takes Vogel to his empty flat in Paris where they start to plan the robbery. For this they need a marksman, to disable the security system by a single rifle shot, and a fence to buy the goods. At the same time, Mattei is trying to locate the murderer of Rico’s men and to recapture Vogel. To do this, he puts pressure on Santi, a night club owner who knows most of the underworld, but who refuses to talk.
Corey recruits Jansen, an alcoholic ex-policeman and a crack shot, together with a fence. One long night, Corey, with Vogel and the support of Jansen successfully rob the jewellery shop. However, his fence refuses to take the goods, having been warned off by a revengeful Rico, who had been told inadvertantly by the prison warden from the beginning that Corey was on the job.
Overcoming their disappointment, Jansen and Vogel suggest that Corey asks Santi to recommend a new fence. Mattei blackmails Santi to obtain information about the meeting planned that evening at his night-club where Corey is supposed to meet the fence. Mattei posing as the fence asks Corey to bring the goods to a country house.
Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
Directed by: Jean-Pierre Melville
Starring: Alain Delon, Bourvil, Yves Montand, Gian Maria Volonté, Pierre Collet, André Ekyan, Jean-Pierre Posier, René Berthier, Jean Champion, Jean-Marc Boris, Yvan Chiffre
Screenplay by: Jean-Pierre Melville
Production Design by: Théobald Meurisse
Cinematography by: Henri Decaë
Film Editing by: Marie-Sophie Dubus
Set Decoration by: Pierre Charron
Music by: Éric Demarsan
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Rialto Pictures, StudioCanal
Release Date: October 20, 1970 (France), April 20, 1993 (USA)
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