Bob le Flambeur ("Bob the Gambler", although a more idiomatic translation would be "Bob the high roller") is a 1955 film from France, directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.
20 years ago, Bob was a well-known gangster in the Paris underworld. Then he got caught for bank robbery and went to prison for a while. Now he lives in a threadbare Montmartre apartment, eking out a meager living as a gambler in whatever back room card games or horse races he can find. He's still very popular among the lowlifes and crooks of Montmartre, including his old crime buddy Roger. Bob has a protege in guileless would-be gangster Paolo. Even Inspector Ledru, head of the Montmartre police, likes Bob, who once saved his life.
One person that does not like Bob is Marc, a local pimp. Bob hates pimps, and refuses to help Marc when Marc is on the run from the cops after beating one of his hookers. Later Bob intervenes when he sees Marc trying to rope sexy nymphet Anne (played by 16-year-old Isabelle Corey) into working for him as a Streetwalker. Bob pulls Anne away from Marc and puts her up in his apartment. His intentions are honorable, and as it happens Anne starts dating Paolo.
Bob wins some money gambling, and then foolishly bets it all on a horse and loses. His fortunes are at a low ebb when his friend Jean, a croupier at the Deauville casino, mentions that the casino safe holds up to 800 million francs during the busy season. Bob decides to rob the casino. He assembles a crew consisting of himself, Roger, Paolo, a safe cracker, and Jean the croupier. They formulate a careful plan. Unfortunately Bob's enemy Marc finds out, and Marc is now a police informant...
Although the French New Wave is usually held to have started in 1958-59 with films like Breathless, this film hits most of the notes of the French New Wave—a gritty crime story, Deliberately Monochrome, realistic settings with natural lighting. Bob le flambeur has influenced several later heist films, like Heat (thief and cop know each other and have dinner) and Ocean's Eleven (casino robbery).
Neil Jordan did a Foreign Remake of the movie in 2002 with The Good Thief, starring Nick Nolte.
Tropes:
- Anticlimax: The heist never happens! The cops, tipped off by the croupier, show up just as the crooks do. All the crooks are killed in the shootout, except for Roger who surrenders, and Bob who was late to the rendezvous.
- The Bartender: Yvonne, who is always ready to give Bob either a drink or advice. Back in the day when Bob was a big-time gangster, he gave her the stake she needed to buy the bar. When she gets wind of what's going on, Yvonne urges Bob not to take such a risk, and offers to give him money instead.
- The Caper: Cracking open a casino safe and stealing the contents.
- Despite the Plan: The betrayal by Jean the croupier ruins the heist, as the cops show up and annihilate the gang. But Bob went on a hellacious gambling hot streak so he leaves the aborted robbery rich anyway. And because he was late for the robbery, he's probably going to beat the rap and go free.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Bob cradles Paolo as Paolo dies following the police shootout.
- Establishing Character Moment: When Bob angrily refuses to help Marc and talks about how much he can't stand pimps who beat up their women, we learn a lot about his moral code.
- The Gambling Addict: How hard-core is Bob? He has a working slot machine in his closet. Roger tells him to not under any circumstances start gambling on the night of the robbery and get distracted. Bob falls to temptation and hits the tables, and it turns out to have been a good idea (see Surprisingly Happy Ending below).
- Gentleman Thief: Bob, who dresses nattily, is charming and friendly with the whole neighborhood, and who sticks up with victimized women like Anne. He decides not to bring a gun to the robbery.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Inspector Ledru, who has gotten word that something is going down, has dinner with Bob and urges him not to return to a life of crime.
- His Name Is...: Marc calls up Inspector Ledru, but doesn't get a chance to tell him about the robbery, because Paolo shoots him In the Back.
- Jump Cut: Another trope associated with the French New Wave and Breathless that can be seen here. Bob is at the teller's window at the race track. There's a jump cut, and Bob is now in a different position a little further away from the terror. Later there's a shot of Bob driving a car down the beach as he cases the casino. There's a jump cut, and then the car can be seen in a slightly different position just a bit further up the road.
- Late to the Action: Bob gets distracted at the gambling tables, and doesn't come out to meet his gang until after almost the whole gang has been killed in a shootout with the cops. As Roger notes, this means that Bob will probably beat the rap.
- The Magic Poker Equation: Bob tells an astonished Paolo about the time that he had three aces, but lost to a guy who drew to a full house, without even needing another card.
- Model Planning: Sort of. Bob makes a full-scale schematic drawing of the casino in an open field by using a chalk liner. This allows the gang to walk around inside the drawing and practice the heist.
- Narrator: A narrator voiced by Jean-Pierre Melville sets the scene, introduces Bob, and pops back up from time to time to deliver exposition.
- No Honor Among Thieves: When Jean finally spills to his wife about the robbery, she goads him into demanding a much bigger share of the take. When that doesn't work because they can't find Bob, she calls the cops and rats Bob and the rest out.
- Really Gets Around: Anne is having affairs with Paolo and Marc at the same time, and obviously is willing to put out for Bob if he wants. She also isn't nearly as upset about possibly becoming a prostitute as Bob is on her behalf.
- Safecracking: Bob finds a standard safe cracker, complete with stethoscope. The safe cracker practices on a similar lock until he can get it open in two minutes.
- Stocking Filler: A post-coital scene with Anne and Marc is shot to emphasize her stocking-clad leg and garters. (Reminder: the actress was 16.)
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: After Ledru and the police are tipped off, it seems like the robbery will end badly like most every heist film ends. It does end badly for most of the gang, but not for Bob. After Bob gives in to temptation and starts gambling while waiting for the others, he wins an enormous sum of money. This causes him to be late for the rendezvous. He charges out the front just as his gang is exchanging shots with the police. As Ledru is taking them away, Roger points out that with a good lawyer Bob will beat the rap—after all, he didn't rob the casino and wasn't actually seen to do anything illegal, and everybody else involved with the plot is dead except for Roger himself who will never talk. Bob, who now has a whole bunch of money won from the casino, and also has gorgeous Anne waiting for him at home, cracks that he'll sue the cops for damages.
- Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Inspector Ledru. He likes Bob just as much as all the crooks in Montmartre do. He is after all just doing his job in pursuing Bob—casino robbery is illegal! He meets Bob in a restaurant and urges him not to go back to a life of crime. After he's tipped off by Jean's wife about the caper, he tries to find Bob and warn him to not do it, but Bob has already left for the casino.
- Title Drop: The narrator refers to Bob as "Bob le flambeur" in the opening sequence.
- Would Hit a Girl: After Anne admits that she blabbed to Marc about the robbery, Bob freaks and slaps her across the face. He doesn't hold a grudge, though, leaving a key behind for her so she can hide out in his apartment.
