The generally positive reviews for this film baffle me. Some movies wear well with age. This one, made nearly sixty years ago, hobbles along on crutches. It is billed as 'a crime thriller' and 'gangster movie' but NOTHING HAPPENS! Jean-Pierre Melville had no experience of directing a movie before he put this together and, even with the help (or perhaps because) of rewrites from Jean Cocteau, the action remains comatose, the narrative entirely linear. It looks like the work of an amateur, though admittedly Paris in 1956 is shot atmospherically. The cigarette count is as high as the body count is low. What gangster or flambeur (the French argot for 'gambler') was ever called 'Bob'? Bob is a name you give your pet Labrador - it's a light comedy name. This particular entirely uncharismatic Bob wanders around from one gambling den to another in a one-expression performance. Other characters are poorly defined by the script or weakly acted by an inexperienced cast. The music (of which there is much) is as intrusive as it is frequently inappropriate. Don't believe the film pseuds. Mickey Spillane or Dashiell Hammett it ain't.

A gambler (Bob) down on his luck agrees to a heist. As another reviewer noted you have the typical thug ecology with split loyalties informers and trouble making women and in this one a well meaning cop.The moral of the movie is to never tell anyone particularly a female anything about your business.It is boiler plate good... so gets a 6 nothing really unusually good about it. Sort of like a decent novel but not one by Graham Greene which would net a 7.I enjoy the reviews that suggest other avenues to explore; Netflix streaming doesn't have the cream of crop but you can find good sleepers and others not in high demand. Plus the real advantage: you can stop watching a dog.

Bob le flambeur (1956) **** (out of 4) Outstanding heist film about an old-time gangster and gambler (Roger Duchesne) who finds himself broke when he hears that a casino will have a large sum of cash available for the taking. Even though his friends and even the police warn him against it, he decides to try for one last heist. The French noir genre seems to be growing more and more popular each passing year as film buffs continue to check out new, forgotten or need-to-be rediscovered films from the genre. I came to this one first as I had heard it was one of the greatest and it's somewhat hard to imagine, after seeing it, that anything else could really come close. Everything runs so smoothly that one can't help but be entertained by the events going on and especially the noir-ish acts of always blaming the women for everything that goes wrong. This film comes off so fresh and original that one can't help but imagine what it must have been like in 1956 when this stuff really was ground breaking. One of the many positive aspects is the terrific cinematography that constantly has the film floating around and really giving us a great look at the streets, the casino and various other important things for the plot. The way the music score just blends in so well with the cinematography is certainly "New Wave" but it still looks fresh all these years later. Melville's screenplay also offers up some terrific dialogue that really puts you in the middle of what's going on to the point where you feel as if you really are watching real professionals getting ready to pull off a heist. What also stands out are the performances with Duchesne who is wonderful in the title role. I really loved the laid back approach to the character and felt Duchesne had so much energy building up inside of him you couldn't help but keep your eyes on him and watch every little thing he did. Daniel Cauchy, Andre Garet and Gerard Buhr add nice support and it was fun seeing Howard Vernon in a small role years before his work with Jess Franco. Then we have Isabelle Corey who in my opinion steals the show. According to the IMDb she was only 16 when this was released but she certainly captures the sexuality of the role very well and she sizzles each time she is on the screen. It's certainly easy to see why these guys would fall all over her. I'm still very new to Melville but this here is certainly an impressive start and I look forward to checking out more of his work.

Director Jean-Pierre Melville's carefully plotted heist caper "Bob Le Flambeur" (a.k.a. "Bob the Gambler") qualifies as an atmospheric exercise in film noir as well as one of the best French crime films about a robbery. During the first part of the action, Melville establishes the character of our ill-fated protagonist, while the second part concerns the planning and the execution of the crime. This vintage black and white robbery is reminiscent of the Hollywood film noir crime films and Melville does an effective job of setting up the robbery. Chiefly, "Rififi" scenarist Auguste Le Breton and Melville generate considerable tension because everybody, including the police, gets wind of Bob's plans. Mind you, this is a French language caper with English subtitles so only the most stalwart crime thriller aficionados may find this hold-up film enjoyable. The cast consists entirely of French actors and actresses, but the director, Jean-Pierre Melville, gained a reputation for making good crime films, including "Le Doulos" (1962) with Jean-Paul Belmondo, "Le Samouraï" (1967) with Alain Delon, "Le Cercle Rouge (1970) with Yves Montand, and "Dirty Money" (1972) with Richard Crenna.Bob (Roger Duchesne) has already served as stretch for attempted bank robbery and he survives on his ability to gamble and win, but he experiences a hard luck losing streak that leaves him temporarily broke. Meanwhile, he is a gracious guy who has helped out a lot of people, including Paulo (Daniel Cauchy) and Anne (Isabelle Corey), and he takes care of them as if they were his children. Bob is also close friends with a police investigator. It seems that he saved the cop's life when he shoved him out of the line of fire of a bullet. The police inspector genuinely cares about Bob and doesn't want to see him do anything stupid. Bob and his accomplicees decide to rob a Deauville casino. Ironically, the night of the hold-up, Bob wins a bundle at the gaming tables and loses all track of time.