The Big Risk (Classe tous risques) poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Lino Ventura, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Sandra Milo, Jacques Dacqmine, Claude Cerval ... see more see more... , Marcel Dalio , Bernard Dheran , Dee "Queen Kong" Booher , Cheung Lung , Tong Tin Sze , Michel Ardan

A criminal on the run finds going home after a decade is harder than he expects in this drama from French filmmaker Claude Sautet. Gangster Abel Davos (Lino Ventura) is wanted for murder in France, an... read more read more...d has been living underground in Italy for ten years. Since then, Abel has married Therese (Simone France) and fathered two sons, and he's decided it's time to come home. Abel has planed an elaborate scheme in which he'll steal a fortune to finance his journey and head home with Therese and the boys, but little goes as planned, and he arrives in Paris without his wife and running from the law with two kids in tow. An underworld boss who owes Abel some favors helps him put together a plan to travel across France in an ambulance to avoid suspicion, and recruits a headstrong young gangster, Eric (Jean-Paul Belmondo), to serve as Abel's driver and right-hand-man. En route, Abel tries to settle some old score with criminal associates who betrayed him. Based on a novel by Jose Giovanni, Classe Tous Risques was the first feature film from Sautet, who previously had worked as an assistant director for some of France's most prestigious filmmakers. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

79% liked it

684 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

18 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Claude Sautet

Release Date: March 23, 1960

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: June 17, 2008

Stats: 53 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

None yet... Got one?

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (53)

  • rubystevens
    January 26, 2012
    rubystevens
    another terrific french gangster film lost in the wake of the new wave, starring tough guy lino ventura as a career criminal who tries to return to france with his wife and children after 10 years away in italy. when things don't go according to plan, his old friends don't want ... read moreto upset their quiet respectable lives to help out their former pal and so they send a young thief, jean paul belmondo, to his rescue. belmondo was on the brink of stardom here as this was made immediately after 'breathless,' and the film was highly influential on the work of jean-pierre melville
  • sanjurosamurai
    June 17, 2009
    sanjurosamurai
    the film begins well, then heads towards one of the most heart wrenching and beautiful second acts ive ever seen on film, and the third act even continues in this leading me to want to give the film at least 4 1/2 stars until an incredibly anti-climatic and disappointing closeout... read more of an otherwise brilliant film. although the film drops an entire star for the horrible ending, i still loved this movie. as a father it was hard to watch but reminded me of how much i love my kids. a gritty crime story with solid performances from belmondo and ventura, highly recommended for anyone into the crime genre.
  • gator681
    December 4, 2005
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]"Classe Tous Risques" starts out with a father dropping his wife and kids off at the Milan train station while on the way to work. The father is Abel Davos(Lino Ventura) who was sentenced to death in absentia in France. He and his partner pull off a daring ... read moredaytime heist. Realizing the police are closing in on him in Italy, Davos makes it back to France and is cornered in Nice. He calls one of his old gang in Paris for help and requests an ambulance. One of his old gang wants to go but is out on bail. The other two are now semi-legit and do not want to risk it. They do send somebody they are unfamiliar with, Eric Stark(Jean-Paul Belmondo), down to Nice with the ambulance.[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]"Classe Tous Risques" is a taut crime drama that is about honor and loyalty amongst criminals. In general, it concerns itself with acts of random kindness, sometimes from and towards the least likeliest of people. There is great location shooting and camerawork.[/font]
  • engrymfilm
    November 5, 2008
    engrymfilm
    Being a career criminal, Lino Ventura comes to the eventual realization that, even with a wife and two children, he can't help and is of no use to anyone and can never be. A great character study with a Noir backdrop.
  • thrusz
    August 10, 2008
    thrusz
    This is really two very separate movies. It is pretty fantastic, but kind of lacks that "ummph" of being absolutely great.

    The first twenty minutes had me riveted. Honestly, I kind of wish I stayed up and watched past the first twenty minutes, but I was plum exhausted last n... read moreight and gosh darn it if Grand Theft Auto 4 was calling me for most of the day. But the first half of the movie is Road to Perdition, only considerably better. This is a story about a family at its heart initially. We see a man who we know is evil, but all we see is the good in him. He is a decent father who wants to be free of the life of his past. But there is something far more evil that Sautet lets us in on. It's not in the escape that makes him evil. It's the joy that he gets from escape.

    There is no denying that he is selfish man. I suppose that's what this movie is about. We can confuse simply having a family with being a father. He is physically a father and loves his kids. But he selfishly loves them. He ensures their safety because they make him feel like a man. They make him feel human. But he does little for them. There's this extremely powerful scene where the family is sitting in a church and he makes his son, perhaps inadvertently, part of his con and his strategy. He does it so he can protect his son, but that's not what the role of a father is.

    The second half of the movie is very different. The second half of the movie is a tale of obsession and greed. There's pangs of paranoia that run through this part of the movie that lead to the eventual downfall of this character. Yes, I thought the same things that the main character thought about his friends. I thought they should get in the ambulance and haul ass to go get him. But they also presented a really valid point. Not only that, but they were responsible for getting him to Paris without incident. Heck, if they hadn't done what they had done, there would have been a good chance that things wouldn't have worked out for the best. Also, that new friendship would not have blossomed. Call me a schoolgirl, but I think that part of the story is actually fairly vital. But the character can't live in a life of peace and that is really an interesting take on the criminal anti-hero.

    The more I think about this movie, the more props I give it. I just upped it another half-star. There's a lot of alyers going into this movie, but there are some real flaws. Like I mentioned, this is two films. I think that I would have loved to investigate both stories more fully. We never really got the downfall of the wife's death and the end seems to be a series of gangland hits as opposed to a collapse into suspicion and insanity. Both sections touch on these important ideas, but neither full on embraces them. Also, the end is slightly weak. The concept behind the end was fantastic. I loved the fact that he gave up after all of that. I think that's the only way that could have ended. But the absolute last narration just seemed almost rushed. Almost like they weren't sure on how to end the movie and that was the safest way to go. I disagree with some of the choices, but it was still absolutely fantastic.

    There's a lot of things going on with this movie and I don't really know how to classify it. The back of the box calls it a film noir. I don't think that is entirely accurate. MOre of the movie is about the escape than the mystery. The film clearly lays out its cards and you know what every character is about with the first few minutes of their introduction, with the exception of the main character who does de-evolve throughout the film. I would consider this a tale of paranoia and crime. That's probalby significantly more important than the mystery involved with the story. It's a very cool watch, but I don't think it would ever make one of those absolutely great French crime stories. It's a cool movie among other cool movies.
  • machinemolle
    July 20, 2008
    machinemolle
    A French noir, quite the equal of its better American forerunners of the 40s and 50s, and entirely gripping.

View All The Big Risk (Classe tous risques) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
July 13, 2006
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Doesn't quite rate lost-classic status, but it's done with a great deal of dexterity, intelligence and an appealing end-of-'50s cool. Full Review

John Monaghan
March 24, 2006
John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press

The rerelease of Classe Tous Risques makes you wonder how many other movies this good got scuttled by the French new wave. Full Review

Wesley Morris
March 18, 2006
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

Even though the film isn't considered a rule-breaking classic, its straight face holds up quite nicely, thank you. Full Review

Kenneth Turan
January 6, 2006
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

To come across Classe Tous Risques is like discovering a bottle of marvelous French wine you didn't remember you had, opening it and finding it every bit as delicious as its reputation promised. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 5, 2006
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

A crisp, smart, cynical film about dishonor among thieves. Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum
November 30, 2005
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

A doozy of a French gangster pic that, in its beautifully refurbished and pithily resubtitled re-release, turns out to be one of the highlights of the 2005 movie year. Full Review

Andrew Sarris
November 23, 2005
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

[T]he young Belmondo alone is worth the price of admission to Classe Tous Risques ...

Peter Rainer
November 18, 2005
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

The late Claude Sautet was one of the best, and perhaps the most underappreciated, of the great French directors who came to prominence in the '50s and '60s. Full Review

A.O. Scott
November 17, 2005
A.O. Scott, New York Times

Claude Sautet's Classe Tous Risques is the kind of French movie that makes you want to throw on your trench coat, light up a cigarette and shoot somebody.

Jan Stuart
November 17, 2005
Jan Stuart, Newsday

Belmondo is the clincher: He's got so much jaunty charisma, the screen can barely contain him. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

The Big Risk (Cla... : Watch Free on TV

The Big Risk (Classe tous risques) Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for The Big Risk (Classe tous risques). Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add The Big Risk (Classe tous risques) to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?