3/5 Slow but stylish crime drama
  by One-Line Film Reviews (Easton, MD)
The Bottom Line:

Melville made his living crafting films like this but Bob le Flambeur can't hold a candle to other offerings like the masterful Army of Shadows: it shows a good deal of creativity in setting up the central heist (I particularly enjoyed the scene in which the men plan out the bank on a soccer field, using lime to sketch out teller's desks and so on) but never really develops enough urgency to make it a compelling or fast-moving film.

3/4

2/5 So-So Film Noir At Best, Re-Make Better
  by Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
It isn't "cool" to like an American re-make over a European original, but that's the way I feel about this one. The remake, "The Good Thief," was simply more interesting. Perhaps since I saw the latter right before I saw "Bob," it made this one disappointing, since this did not have the story twists I found in the modern-day version. And, hopefully, another viewing will change my mind.

On a second viewing, I still thought it was so-so, at best, with Isabelle Corey the best thing about the film. Corey was nice on the eyes, to say the least. Roger Duchensne, as "Bob," the lead male, also was interesting.

The cinematography is pretty good but I've seen films noir done a lot better, not only in the photography but in heist stories. On the whole, I felt this was really overrated and overpriced DVD. Sorry.

5/5 Ah, Monsieur Bob...
  by Liza B. Stough (ellicott city, md United States)
Just saw this movie again after probably two decades, and it's still one of the more gripping - and probably the pleasantest - of the great heist/noir movies I've ever seen. Reminded me that I once had a trilogy in my head of aging-courtly-criminals-we-root-for: Roger Duchesne's Bob Le Flambeur,
Burt Lancaster's Lou Pasco in "Atlantic City", and Richard Farnsworth's
Bill Miner is "The Grey Fox." Might be time to review and update the list, but these three gentleman stay.

4/5 Stylish French Gangster Film Noir
  by R. Swanson (New Mexico)
I saw Le Samourai recently and liked it a lot. I read up on Jean Pierre Melville and learned that Bob Le Flambeur was considered by many cineastes to be one of his masterpieces. So perhaps I expected too much...and was a little disappointed. Le Samourai had Alain Delon who was a much more watchable actor than Roger DuChesne. Apparently Melville had very little money at the time he made this film and couldn't afford high priced actors.

It is certainly stylish and fun to watch for its '50's Montmartre underworld atmosphere. The scenes at the casino at Deauville were great, too, especially the final one where Bob wins big. The faces of the other players are terrific!

The interview with Daniel Couchy, who plays Paulo is interesting. He states that he really doesn't see why so many people love this film. I have to agree with him. It's obviously historically important for the innovations made in technique--the hand-held camera, etc. Lovers of film will find much to like here. For me, it was not as enjoyable as Le Samouri.

4/5 An American Film Noir from out of France
  by J. A. Eyon (Seattle - USA)
This displaced American film noir movie was made by French auteur Jean-Pierre Melville. It has a white-haired leading man (Roger Duchesne) who, Bogart-like, wears a wide-brim hat and a trenchcoat. He's a gambler with ethics (such as his hatred of pimps). But, when things get desperate for him, he falls back on his failed career of 20 years before - robbery - this time of a casino.

Usually I find the heist in Melville films the most interesting part, but this time I preferred the early, mood-setting scenes of this movie in which the gambler strolls thru Montmarte streets between the backroom gambling dens and his home and haunts. And I liked his efforts to aid a wayward young woman -- primarily because that woman was played by Isabel Corey. The detailed heist was interesting, and there's a cool and cruel twist at the end.

As usual, Melville's direction is top notch. The pacing, as usual, is very deliberate. Financial desperation on Melville's part forced him to cast minor actors, so the faces were unknown to me - but I wish Isabel Corey's wasn't. Forget Bardot or Loren. Corey put most European sex kittens of the time in the shade (altho, it seems she could barely act).

The Criterion DVD has a couple extras. The best is a recent interview with aging Daniel Cauchy who played the young man in this film. He has a lot of interesting information (such as how this film qualifies as his third and seventh film). Also available is a radio interview with Melville but the American host formulated obtuse questions that would challenge an American much less Frenchman Melville. I gave up on that one part way in.

I've since learned that Roger Duchesne ("Bob") had been accused of working with the Gestapo during the war. That may explain why this and his only other post-war film were made some 10 years later. How ironic that he's the star of one of the most admired and influential movies to come out of France.