José Giovanni

Bridging argot-rich 50s masterworks like "Rififi" and "Touchez-pas au Grisbi" with Jean-Pierre Melville's pared-down thrillers of the 60s, Classe Tous Risques (1960) (the title refers to a type of insurance policy, à la "Double Indemnity," but is also a pun on "tourist class") is a penetrating study of the underworld tough guy at the end of his rope, drawn from screenwriter José Giovanni's first-hand knowledge of the post-war French underworld. (Film Forum)

Four convicts in a French prison share a single cell. As all are incarcerated for serious crimes, including, perhaps, execution, they decide to escape and have collected materials for the purpose. Before they can begin carrying out their carefully prepared plan, another inmate is moved to their cell... (imdb)

Gustave Manda, better known as Gu, a dangerous gangster, escapes from jail. He goes to Paris to join Manouche and other friends, and get involved in a gangland killing. Before leaving the country with Manouche, Gu needs a final job to get some money. But that's not so simple when you have Inspector Blot tracking you, and have to deal with the consequences of the shooting in Paris... (imdb)

Two adventurers and best friends, Roland and Manu, are the victims of a practical joke that costs Manu his pilot's license. With seeming contrition, the jokesters tell Roland and Manu about a crashed plane lying on the ocean floor off the coast of Congo stuffed with riches. The adventurers set off to find the loot... (imdb)

Joe, international poker player, is considered an irresponsible family-chief. His two sons drifted into gangsterism. The older dies from it. The younger, Manu, was sentenced to death. Joe takes on to a terrific battle in order to save his son. Will he succeed in it? For life has more than one trick in its well-worn sleeve. (imdb)

Gu, a famous gangster, has just escaped from jail. All french police is after him. Before leaving the country with Manouche, the woman he loves, Gu needs a final job to get some money. The job works, but a police's scheming makes Gu appear as a traitor to his own accomplices. Gu will do whatever it takes to clean his honor... (imdb)

A former bank robber is released after 10 years in prison. He gets help from a social-worker, but gets harassed by an old cop from his past. (imdb)

In 1934, Roberto Borgo leaves Sicily for Marseille, where his childhood friend Xavier has just been condemned to 20 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Indeed, local gang leader, Villanova, has framed Xavier. Roberto confronts the mobster and kills him. Later, while helping Xavier's sister to fight an American gang of racketeers, Roberto is caught by the police and is put in the same prison with Xavier. (allmovie.com)

Police inspector Léonetti, a tough, efficient policeman, has been sent to a second-rate police station after being reprimanded. There he is given a partner, young and beautiful Jeanne Dumas. The duo are soon assigned a very difficult mission: to find a man whose evidence is instrumental in convicting a murderer. They start searching throughout Paris. (imdb)

Jean-Claude Roland and Lino Ventura play Nick and Laurent, a pair of not completely rehabilitated ex-convicts. The twosome is hired by Hector, a well-meaning, unworldly sawmill owner. At first refusing to take their lumberjacking jobs seriously, the larcenous parolees gradually realize that a whole new life has been offered them by the ingenuous owner. (allmovie.com)

Hugo Sennart is a French Gypsy, wanted by the police for theft. The same inspector who's searching for him is also looking for a jewel thief, Yan Kuq, whose wife has died under suspicious circumstance just after a major burglary. The Gypsy needs to settle a few scores and make one more heist before going to ground, and, by coincidence, his path takes him close to Yan, who's hiding in the hotel of a close friend and former lover, Ninie. (imdb)

When his friends are imprisoned, a man tracks down the racketeers responsible. (movies.yahoo.com)

Aldo has worked in a gold mine in Canada. A pay day, a band of robbers attack the mine and exterminate all minors except for Aldo and two Indians. Aldo gets rid of his cronies and goes canoeing on the river... (Allociné)

Under the influence of drugs, a teenager, Eddy, kills a policeman. His father, Jacques, pleads extenuating circumstances and nearly succeeds in gaining the confidence of the policeman's widow. But the press reveals that Jacques is an ex-gangster who has spent time in prison. (imdb)

A French secret agent gets a license to kill when he is sent to Vienna to plug a security leak in this routine spy saga. He is caught in the crossfire of international enemy agents trying to eliminate the French. (imdb)

The quest for respect of a small time mob driver turns him into a notorious gangster. (imdb)

Based on a 1976 heist by Albert Spaggiari.

A Muslim ex-con forms a friendship with his parole officer. (imdb)

An American general with highly confidential defence information has been kidnapped by terrorists and is being held in a cliff-top fortress in the Mediterranean. (imdb)

Five men collaborate to buy drugs, but one steals the money and all the rest are killed as they make mistakes. (imdb)

Tom is a secretary for an association which aims to free political prisoners. Skipping from inaction he plans and kills dictator Anton Caras. (imdb)

Vera Cruz, 1938. "Le Rital", a tough French hit man, agrees to serve Mexican revolutionaries who want to replace the current President by Chico, an insecure young bourgeois that they intend to manipulate. The killing of the President is to take place in a small town whose "great lady", Camito, is an alluring former thespian and the despot's mistress.

Van Ekken, an old gangster, arrives in Tokyo to direct a bank hold-up, to get a very valuable diamond, so big it's named Titan. (imdb)