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How others will see it. Those who enjoy crime dramas will be satisfied. Even those who generally dislike subtitled European films should appreciate Rififi.
How I felt about it. A tense crime drama, Rififi mines familiar territory despite its French origins. The criminals gather, plan, and execute. The Hollywood production code did not allow crooks to go unpunished, however, and apparently contemporary French studios marched to the same drumbeat.
In Asphalt Jungle fashion, the real suspense isn't whether the heist is pulled off. The game is to see how each criminal is duly punished. Rififi checks all the boxes except for the jeweler fence, who appears to profit handsomely.
Our protagonist is Tony (Servais), a worn out fiftysomething whose calm demeanor masks an impassioned criminal mind. He's a good selection for the lead, since his character is the most interesting.
Tony typifies the 'honor among thieves' mentality. Within this philosophy, it's okay to bind and gag innocents, and loot a jewelry shop. It's not okay to kidnap children. It's not okay to snitch on your cronies. If the squealer is a man, it's death. If it's a woman, considered weaker and thus less culpable, she gets off with a mark she can conceal.
The crooks are certainly stylish. They wear nice suits, attend classy nightclubs, and don't talk slang like Hollywood gangsters. There are no stereotypes, such as the abrasive bully, the sadistic flunky, the stupid bodyguard, etc. although the inveterate gambler and the drug addict are represented. The friendship between Tony and the younger Jo (Mohner) is almost touching, as is the normal family life that Jo possesses despite his penchant for organized crime.
Rififi does not always overcome the formulas of the crime genre. This is most apparent when characters lose their common sense. Jo is left with the money despite the strong chance he will use it to pay kidnappers. He later meets with the kidnappers alone, without waiting for instructions from Tony, who has told him such a meeting means death. Tony drives through city streets, woozy from a gunshot wound, risking the life of his young godson.