The Burglars

The Burglars (French: Le casse) is a 1971 French-Italian neo noir crime film directed by director Henri Verneuil and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Omar Sharif. It is based on the 1953 novel by David Goodis and revolves around a team of four burglars chased by a corrupt policeman in Athens. It's a remake of the 1957 film The Burglar with Jayne Mansfield.

The movie is known for its spectacular car chase by Rémy Julienne's crew through the streets of Athens, and Belmondo's incredible rolling fall from a construction truck down a steep, rocky hillside. The movie was shot twice, once in French and once in English, by the same cast.

Plot
In Athens, Azad, Ralph, Renzi, and Helen execute a heist, pilfering a suitcase of emeralds from a wealthy Greek citizen, M. Tasco, during his absence. Breaking into the house, they crack the safe and abscond with the jewels. Detective Abel Zacharia notices the burglars' car outside the residence. Azad engages in small talk with the detective, posing as a stranded salesman. Zacharia departs, seemingly fooled.

Intent on leaving the country aboard a merchant ship, the thieves encounter a setback – the ship requires five days of repairs. Opting to bide their time, they stash the loot and disperse. Zacharia resurfaces with plans to claim the emeralds for himself. Azad develops feelings for Lena.

Zacharia pinpoints the thieves and frames Ralph for the crime, resulting in Renzi's death and Ralph's arrest. Azad narrowly evades the police with Lena, only to discover her collusion with Zacharia.

Azad and Zacharia clash in the cargo hold of the ship, leading to Zacharia being buried beneath tons of wheat. Azad eludes the police but has to leave behind the jewels buried under the wheat with Zacharia, underscoring the theme that crime does not pay.

Cast

 * Jean-Paul Belmondo as Azad
 * Omar Sharif as Abel Zacharia
 * Dyan Cannon as Lena Gripp's
 * Robert Hossein as Ralph
 * Nicole Calfan as Helene
 * Myriam Feune de Colombi as Isabelle Tasco (as Myriam Colombi)
 * Raoul Delfosse as Le gardien de la villa Tasco
 * José Luis de Vilallonga as Tasco
 * Renato Salvatori as Renzi

Production
The Burglar by David Goodis had been published in 1953 and filmed in 1956. Goodis was popular with French filmmakers; his novel Down There had been adapted by François Truffaut as Shoot the Piano Player (1961).

Filming took place in Athens and Paris.

Reception
The film was a box office hit in France, being the sixth most popular movie of the year.

The Los Angeles Times said "the scenery is lovely, Belmondo is fun to watch even in a flat, silly part like this" but that it was "finally an uninteresting and uninvolving movie" because "it has no reality except as a movie".

The New York Times called it "yet another international caper film... that does nothing very well and almost everything in excess" in which the director would "fill up a great deal of film time with a device rather than with an action".

Time Out said the film "suffers an overdose of sunshine and multi-national production values to emerge as just another glossy heist."