This happened a few days ago, great director Jules Dassin passed away at the grand old age of 96.
I had once thought that Dassin was French given that his most famous films were made in France. He was, in fact, American and had been blacklisted during the McCarthy era.
Unable to find work anywhere (in Hollywood and Europe - he was stopped twice from making movies in Europe after he left the US) he was finally given a last chance to make a movie of the novel Du rififi chez les hommes in France.
This, of course, turned into Rififi, the greatest heist film, ever!
My old USC colleague Dave Marmor turned me on to this film a while ago, and I totally loved it (even though it had been so hyped up over the years).
Coincidentally, The Better Half added this to her Netflix queue after I sent her an article talking about heist movies in the wake of the surprising quasi-success of The Bank Job (fun movie - a must for Jason Statham fans everywhere!). We ended up watching it the other day, and it was even better the second time around.
The most famous thing about the movie is that 40-some-minute wordless heist itself. In spite of the obvious dated-ness (is that a word?) of the movie (it was 1954 after all) that sequence was as nerve-wracking and realistic as anything you are apt to see these days.
Dassin made other well-regarded movies (coincidentally, one of them was Night and the City with the recently-deceased Richard Widmark) that cemented his place in the pantheon, adding to his legacy is the courage he showed in the face of the abhorrent blacklist.
Rest in peace.
Essential Movies
Brute Force [1947]
Naked City [1948]
Night and the City [1950]
Rififi [1954]
He Who Must Die [1958]
Never on Sunday [1960]
Topkapi [1964]
LINKS
NYT Obituary
LAT Obituary
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