Jacques Becker's Touchez pas au grisbe (1954) which was recently revived at Film Forum is a gangster film--Tarantino reincarnated as a French director of the 50s. There are a succession of locations all either cafes, offices or bedrooms where gangsters hangout. The café has horrible dancing girls who wear pasties. Jean Gabin is Max, the lead gangster who is looking to have his uncle fence 50 million francs in gold bars. Rene Dary as Ricot is his pal. Jeanne Moreau plays Josy, the dancer who is leaving Riton. Above all the dancing girls are shots of other dancing girls in a state of undress, leading up to the Ricot's solemn deathbed scene in which there's full frontal nudity.Nothing really happens. One of the funniest scenes has Ricot and Max getting ready to go to bed, putting on their pajamas and brushing their teeth, with Ricot examining his chicken neck. One other element is the profusion of point of view shots, many of one group of gangsters or another driving and others of typically French winding staircases with an elevator rising to the top floor apartment of the local moll. The real source of the comedy is ultimately the fact that very little transpires. Waiting for Godot in French is En Attendant Godot. Touchez’s humor comes from turning its action genre on its head. What do gangsters do in between heists?
read "Double Exposure" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star
read The Wormhole Society by Francis Levy
and read The Wormhole Society: The Graphic Novel by Francis Levy and Joseph Silver
