Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
Rialto Pictures | Release Date: January 10, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
92
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
There is one cool, understated scene after another. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeTy Burr
For some of us, this constitutes a religious event. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Watching Le Cercle Rouge, we're caught up in a world that, however improbable some of its twists and turns seem, strikes us as a perfect, imaginative creation. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
A glistening gem among caper movies, this impeccably elegant jewel-heist drama takes its title from Buddhist lore, its cast from France's great gallery of leading men, and its style from the unique blend of cinematic savoir-faire and brooding existential angst. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The antidote to every square tough-guy caper you've ever seen, and the inspiration for many great ones. It is an existential imperative to seek out a showing and burn rubber to get there, preferably in an excellent car. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A slo-mo gem of gangster cool, of vintage Hollywood noir reimagined by a French new waver in love with American cars, American jazz, and the kind of trench-coated tough-guys embodied by Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum. Read full review
100
Dallas ObserverAndy Klein
It was Melville's second-to-last feature, and it shows him in top form, with a more generous dose of humor than usual. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
A dazzling epic of love, guns, gangsters and cigarettes. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
When it was released in the United States more than 30 years ago, its distributor hacked away 40 minutes of its precise structure. This rerelease restores every meticulous second of Melville's cinematic fantasy. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Melville seems to peer out from behind the camera with a reassuring wink and nod. Le Cercle Rouge is the most self-consciously cool of his famously underheated films noirs. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
For students of cool ... Le Cercle Rouge is required viewing. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
At its best, the film compares favorably to its obvious antecedents, "Rififi" (which Melville once hoped to direct) and "The Asphalt Jungle." Read full review
90
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Offers the kind of experience that makes you glad movies exist. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
As film noirs go, this one is a classic. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A work of leisurely development and tragic inevitability. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderBill Stamets
Key action points are edited with finesse, but the denouement, with its dutiful hail of gunfire, is heartless and mechanical. Read full review
80
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Preserves and resuscitates the hard-boiled genre. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
If you've got the patience, this is still one of the all-time exercises in cinematic cool. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Clearly a minor classic, mainly for reasons besides its crime story plot -- namely, the urbane fatalism of its cast and the overall mood of inevitability that hangs over every scene. Read full review
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