Max and the Junkmen (DVD)

From Claude Sautet, the legendary director of Classe Tous Risques, Cesar and Rosalie, Un Coeur en Hiver and Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud, comes this sophisticated policier starring screen greats Romy Schneider (The Trial, What’s New Pussycat?) and Michel Piccoli (Contempt, Belle de Jour). Lone-wolf detective Max (Piccoli) is obsessed with bringing criminals to justice at any cost. He devises a plan to lure a scrap thief (Bernard Fresson, La Prisonnière, French Connection II) and his gang into committing a bank robbery—so that he can catch them red-handed. His plan is complicated when he tries to save a German-born prostitute (Schneider) from the top cop in the bank’s district (François Perier, Le Samouraï, The Nights of Cabiria). Striking cinematography by Rene Mathelin (The Man from Acapulco, The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe) and a rousing score by Philippe Sarde (The Tenant, La Grande Bouffe) highlight this deviously compelling psychological thriller.