The granddaddy of all caper/heist films, Rififi, through the years, has been much imitated—in life as well as in film. Seldom, however, has it been matched. The story of a criminal gang who plan and execute a daring jewel robbery in Paris only to find each other more dangerous than the cops (Bosley Crowther once remarked that they make “the characters in Mickey Spillane seem like sissies”), Rififi is renowned for a tense and meticulously enacted thirty-minute robbery sequence played in total silence, and for its colorful view of the Montmarte underworld. Scripted by director Dassin, Rene Wheeler, and Auguste LeBreton from LeBreton’s novel, the film earned Dassin the Best Director award at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.