The Counterfeiters of Paris

The Counterfeiters of Paris (Le cave se rebiffe, 1961) is a French crime comedy you can watch online on iFILM. A crew of small-time, perpetually unlucky crooks decides to think bigger and print a large batch of forged banknotes. The catch: rookies like them have no way to move the goods.

Their fix is to coax a legend out of retirement. The old master forger, known as "Le Dabe," has long since settled in the tropics with his horses and his money, and he turns the offer down flat. He changes his mind the second he hears the target is the Dutch florin, a currency he has unfinished business with. That leaves the hard part: talking a brilliant engraver who has nothing to do with the underworld into the job, all while half the gang clearly can't be trusted. Jean Gabin runs the whole show with unhurried cool, backed by Bernard Blier and Martine Carol.

The real treat is the dialogue, sharpened by screenwriter Michel Audiard and his ear for slangy back-talk. A prime slice of early-sixties French caper cinema, where the charm of the con men matters more than the con. Stream The Counterfeiters of Paris (1961) online on iFILM.