Jeanne Moreau : Josy, dancer who goes out with Riton.Lino Ventura : Angelo, head of a rival gang.René Dary : Riton, Max's partner in crime.Marilyn Buferd : Betty, a mistress of Max's.Jean Gabin : Max, a leading Paris gangster.Pierrot telephones to tell Max that Riton has died. Some other diners, fellow crooks, ask Max if he thinks it is true, as the papers say, that Angelo was the thief Max evades the question. Max, careful to maintain his habitual rounds to avoid any speculation of his recent whereabouts, takes Betty, his upperclass lover, to Madame Bouche's restaurant for lunch, where all the talk is about the recovery of the stolen gold from the wreck of Angelo's car. Max is unable to retrieve the gold from the hotly burning wreck, and they are forced to leave as a long haul truck approaches.Īt dawn they are back at Pierrot's, with Riton being patched up by a mob doctor. The grenade blows up Angelo and sets fire to his car. He tries to throw it at Max's group, but is shot in the process. Angelo himself, the only survivor, stumbles out of the car and pulls out another grenade. Riton is wounded by return fire, but Pierrot shoots out the tires and Angelo's car crashes. The three of them get into the non-exploded car and chase Angelo. They get out to mop up the scene, but are gunned down by Max, Pierrot, and Riton. The car drives by and its occupants blow up Fifi's car with hand grenades, killing Marco. The second car appears in the distance, and Max warns everyone to take cover. As Angelo's car drives away, Riton warns Max that, though blindfolded, he heard a second car. Riton is returned unharmed, and the gold is given to Angelo. The initial exchange, on a deserted back road, goes without incident. Max agrees, and he, Marco, and Pierrot arm themselves, take the gold, and head out in Fifi's car, dropping Fifi by the side of the road. Angelo telephones and proposes to trade Riton for the gold. Learning no useful information, they proceed to Pierrot's and interrogate Fifi, with a bit more roughing-up but not much more success. They go to Josy's hotel, where they capture Fifi, one of Angelo's thugs on the lookout for them, and interrogate Josy. Max begins by going to Madame Bouche's restaurant and hiring Marco as backup.
Loyalty prevails, though, and he sets out to recover Riton. He briefly and bitterly considers leaving Riton in the lurch, as his incompetence continually hinders Max. Max calls Josy's hotel to find that Riton was there, but was recently taken away in an ambulance presumably the one used by Angelo's men earlier. He returns to his apartment to find that Riton has left. He is told that the money will take a while to procure. The next morning, Max leaves early and takes the gold to a fence. Max assures Riton that the bars of gold which the two of them had stolen some weeks or months prior are safe in a special car in the parking garage, but berates him for mentioning the gold to Josy, who had then told Angelo. Max and Riton go to Max's spare apartment, which Angelo does not know of. Max calls Riton and warns him not to go with Angelo, who had just asked Riton to do a job with him. He gets the drop on them and drives them off, though they claim not to be after him. After the show, Max finds Riton's girlfriend Josy making out with Angelo, another gangster.Īs Max takes a taxi home to his apartment, he is followed by two of Angelo's men in an ambulance. Max gets Marco a job as a drug dealer working for Pierrot. The group goes to Pierrot's nightclub, where the girls perform. A newspaper is seen to mention eight bars of stolen gold. Max, a decent and principled gangster, has dinner at Madame Bouche's restaurant, a hangout for criminals, with his longtime associate Riton, their burlesque-dancer girlfriends, and his protege Marco. The entire film takes place over the course of three days.
Gabin then agreed to do the film, and his role helped to relaunch his career, which had been suffering since the end of the World War II. French actor Daniel Gélin was first offered the role of Max but turned it down, seeing himself as too young for the part.
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