
Directed By: Jean-Pierre Melville
Written By: Auguste Le Breton, Jean-Pierre Melville
Main Cast: Roger Duchesne, Isabelle Corey, Daniel Cauchy, Guy Decomble, Andre Garet
A DOUBLE SHOT OF MELVILLE: 1 of 2
Noticing that "Le Samourai" was nearing the top of my Netflix queue as one of my next 60s films to watch, I decided to turn to the streaming portion of Netflix and knock out Melville with a one, two punch, watching "Bob the Gambler" last night.
Bob (Duchesne) is an aging, ex-convict who just happens to be a compulsive gambler. In fact, among his circles in Paris, Bob is knows as "Bob the Gambler", as he spends all hours of the night trying to double his money, playing cards or betting on race horses. Bob is also a very generous man. This is shown when he gives young Anne (Corey) money for a hotel and later offers her his place to stay and a bed to sleep in. Bob wins some money gambling and loses some money gambling, but for the most part, he finds himself counting his losses. When a race horse that Bob bets big on comes in, Bob's first instinct is to go to the Deauville Casino and ride his wave of luck. While at the casino, Bob loses everything, but a pal of his strikes up a conversation with one of the croupiers, who tells him that on the morning of the Grand Prix, the casino safe will house about 800 million francs. With losing still fresh in his mind, Bob can't help but revert to his old ways of thinking and it doesn't take him long to hatch a scheme to burgle the casino and make off with the loot. Bob puts together a team, including Paolo (Cauchy), his partner in crime, pays off the croupier for floor plans to the casino, gathers safe cracking equipment and goes to work!
SPOILER ALERT!
I was watching the director's commentary on "Hard Eight" (P.T. Anderson's first feature) about three years ago and heard Anderson cite "Bob the Gambler" as an influence on that film. I've wanted to see it since then, but just got around to it last night. I know - procrastination at it's finest! Anyway, my advice on that topic is never wait to see a picture that you can see today. The longer you wait, the more you're going to build it up in your head and the bigger chance there will be for disappointment. I really liked "Bob the Gambler", but there was still a smidgen of disappointment because I was expecting a surefire '10/10', no questions asked. While I wouldn't go so far as to call it a perfect movie, it was still damn good. The film had melancholy tones and didn't force itself upon you. It just allowed itself to be and slowly brought to the surface the relevant points, as we needed them. It captured the city of Paris in beautiful black and white and flowed like a jazz music, showing off qualities that were crisp, sexy and smooth.

Give "Bob the Gambler" a chance and you may just be surprised. My word of advice, however, would be to stick with it. It starts out just a tad slow, but definitely picks up and I think that by the time Bob is being ushered into the back of a police car, you'll be pleased.
RATING: 8/10 By the way, the last time I watched "Le Samourai" (which was several years ago), I gave it a '10/10'. We'll see what it gets this go around...in a few days.
MOVIES WATCHED: 319
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 682
Coming Soon:
Roman Holiday (1953 - William Wyler)
Le Samourai (1967 - Jean-Pierre Melville)
August 10, 2011 1:12pm
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