The gangster who brushes his teeth before going to bed

 

Sharing pate with your partner: the most powerful moment in Touchez pas au grisbi

He not only brushes his teeth, but wears very traditional striped pyjamas – and has a spare pair for visitors. He has clean sheets in the cupboard of his flat. His performance, believe it or not, is one of the greatest gangster depictions ever: Jean Gabin as Max in Touchez pas au grisbi (Don’t touch the loot!) directed by Jacques Becker, 1954. 

The enduring image from this film is all about Gabin. There is action, but you remember Gabin's character: a pensive, considered, even moral gangster. He does not act in a hurry. He only carries a gun in emergencies, when he is threatened. The theme of the film is loyalty: he and his partner Riton have just carried out a major theft of eight gold bars from Orly Airport. This, Max explains, is to be his last job; now he can retire. He has been with his partner Riton (Rene Dary) for over 20 years, but learns during the course of the film (just over 24 hours, an evening, a night, and the following day and night) that Riton has revealed details of the robbery to his girlfriend Josy (a very young Jeanne Moreau). She in turn has talked to a rival gangster, Angelo (Lino Ventura).

Jeanne Moreau and Jean Gabin: does this man look like a gangster?

Max appears in almost every scene, and there is just one moment where Max, in a voice-over, reveals his disappointment in his partner. During the film Max reveals his honour and absolute faith in his friend: to rescue Riton, he gives exchanges all the loot with Angelo.

The film is worthy of Tarantino. There is some shooting, but most of the film is dialogue between villains. The police are almost completely absent, apart from a couple of sweet types on bicycles.

This is no glorification of violence; it is a homage to someone who shows himself to be, for the duration of the film, an ethical gangster. Max trusts his friends, until he learns they have deceived him, and even then, he behaves honourably towards them. Most noticeably, in almost the first scene of the film, when he is invited to a night club to see their two female companions, Lola and Josy, perform, he leaves early and goes home to bed. Not for him the bright lights and expensive seduction. He appears indifferent to a chorus of almost bare-breasted women dancing in front of him. In other words, women are OK - in their place. Some women (the manager of the restaurant where the gangsters eat) can be trusted; but not all.  

Of course, Max is not perfect. We discover later that he is susceptible to female attractions – he has sexual encounters with girlfriends in the middle of the day (so he still gets his early night). He treats them honourably, but does not divulge any secrets to them; he doesn’t lose his head over them.

What will stay with me for a long time is the wonderful, simple scene when he takes Riton, his partner, back to an apartment to stay the night. He opens a jar of pate and some toast from a packet, together with a bottle of wine, and the two companions eat together. Following that, they brush their teeth and put their pyjamas on. It’s a very powerful image of shared food, shared trust, lack of pretension: quite the opposite of what you would expect from a gangster film, and all the more impressive as a result.

 A truly remarkable film.