Review of Any Number Can Win

This is referential to a degree; the young Turk and the seasoned pro was done better in Alain Corneau's Le Choix des armes with Gerard Depardieu taking on Yves Montand and if it comes to that Montand was integral to a better 'caper' movie, Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge but whilst this one takes its time to get going Henri Verneuil racks up the tension with the heist itself, which is, of course, the centre point and then he tends to let himself down by a slight variant of the end of Kubrick's The Killing. Nothing with Gabin is ever going to be a waste of time and though Delon developed into a fine actor he is a tad too mannered here. There's a good opening sequence in which Gabin, on the train taking him home out of the slammer (though we don't know this yet) listens scornfully to the other commuters comparing dull lives but after this there's something of a hiatus til the caper itself. Worth a look.