Touchez Pas au Grisbi

Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954) is a French crime noir directed by Jacques Becker — watch it online on iFILM. Max, played by Jean Gabin, is a career criminal who has just pulled off the cleanest job of his life: fifty million francs in gold bars lifted from Orly airport, with nobody the wiser. He and his old partner Riton are ready to disappear quietly into retirement.

Then Riton makes one small mistake — he tells his mistress Josy about the gold. She tells her new companion, a younger gangster named Angelo. Angelo kidnaps Riton and sends Max a simple message: the gold for the friend. Max has to decide how much a thirty-year friendship is worth, and what he's willing to do to honor it. Lino Ventura, barely a year into his acting career, plays Angelo with a cold impatience that signals he'll be back in bigger roles. Jeanne Moreau appears briefly and memorably.

Becker's film is less a heist movie than a character study of a man who has outgrown ambition but hasn't outgrown loyalty — and that distinction costs him. It shaped Jean-Pierre Melville's entire approach to the genre and remains one of the essential texts of French noir. Stream Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954) online on iFILM.