Jean Paul Belmondo never really made a stab at English speaking stardom, but this feels very aimed at the international market - it's a heist thriller, with large slabs of non speaking sequences and two Hollywood co-stars, Omar Sharif and Dyan Cannon.
It's a film of set pieces - an opening 20 minute credit and burglar set piece (shades of Rififi), a 13 minute car chase sequence (shades of French Connection), 10 minutes of Belmondo visiting a cabaret with Dyan Cannon, a superb chase scene on board a bus, a final shoot out at the docks.
Belmondo is always good in these sort of roles (i.e. likeable thieves). Cannon's part is decorative and not much else; she is treacherous (surprise, not) and gets slapped around by Belmondo (surprise, not). Sharif was the revelation for me - excellent as a bastard of a cop, genuinely threatening. He should have played more villains.
The plot has a simple concept - corrupt cop tries to rob crooks - but it got better as it went along. I wish the action set pieces had been better motivated. It was shot partly on location in Athens which means it looks different.
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