Review: Bob The Gambler (Bob Le Flambeur, 1956)

The English title Bob The Gambler doesn't quite do justice to Jean-Pierre Melville's portrait of a criminal at the end of his rope. The original French title, Bob Le Flambeur, raises the stakes and implies risk--and risk is a major element of this film. Bob Montagne (played by Roger Duchesne, whose real life is every bit as interesting as that of his character) is a career gambler who inhabits the shadow realm between night and day. Clad in a trench coat with a fedora pulled down to shadow his stubbled face, he's a wraith who stalks the alleys of Montmarte, always one step ahead of the police who congenially follow his exploits with a touch of envy. 

But Bob has been on a losing streak, and his run has nearly come to an end. He's without funds and without prospects, and he's too old to start over. This is when Bob realizes that he has the knowledge and experience to mount a casino heist that could make him--and those who choose to help him--rich beyond their dreams. 

This is one of the patriarchs of all heist films. Jean-Pierre Melville presents a world both believable and heightened, steeped in the American tradition but with a uniquely-French lens that adds multiple layers of gray. Cinematographer Henri Decaë is a master of his craft, showing the contrast between the bright world of the daytime and the criminal world of the night. 

The film is in no hurry to get anywhere in particular, and the heist plot really doesn't begin until around 45 minutes in, with everything that's come before serving as character development and the establishment of the underworld. Mellville (and co-screenwriter Auguste Le Breton) draws on American films like The Asphalt Jungle to show us not just the crime itself, but the entire genesis of the plan and the work that goes into bringing it to fruition. For some viewers, this leisurely, laissez faire approach will feel lethargic, but it's all in service of a more realistic kind of storytelling. This isn't Hollywood. 

There's a reason that Melville is considered one of the forerunners of the "Nouvelle vague" (French New Wave) movement.  Bob Le Flambeur is unconventional, revolutionary, and highly-influential. Stanley Kubrick, who made his own heist masterpiece the same year with The Killing, was so impressed with Melville's work that he stepped away from the crime genre entirely. Melville's list of admirers reads like a who's who of talented directors: Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, and even French New Wave master Jean-Luc Godard name Bob Le Flambeur as their favorite film. It also seems like a direct influence on Soderbergh's Out of Sight and Ocean's films. 

The beauty of the film isn't in a thrill-a-minute approach, but in the overall experience itself. This is a movie that feels lived in. Every character, every location, every frame contains a history. In this long, slow ride, the journey itself is the destination. Melville doesn't care if you like the characters--indeed, most are unlikable--and he isn't interested in coddling his audience. We are not consumers of entertainment, we are silent observers of a world that existed before we arrived and will continue after we're gone. To glimpse the world of Bob Le Flambeur is to share the rain-slicked streets of Montmarte with the creatures of the night. 

Kino Lorber has released Bob Le Flambeur on 4K. It's available for purchase here.