Symphony for a Massacre 04/28/26

We finally caught up with this superb French crime thriller about a gang of cultured crooks that trip up on their own sense of sophistication. Kingpin Charles Vanel collects a fortune from four partners to initiate a drug deal; but one of the group is cheating with his ante and another intends to steal the bundle and run away with another’s wife. Director Jacques Deray plays the entire movie as actions, not speeches; the cagey thief dashes back and forth across France to establish his alibi. The classy cast plays it all low-key: Jean Rochefort, Michel Auclair, Jose Giovanni, Claude Dauphin, Michele Mercier and Daniela Rocca. The surface pleasures are a fine jazz score and marvelous location shoots circa 1963 — just seeing the cars is a thrill. On Blu-ray from The Cohen Film Collection.
04/28/26