The Sewers of Paradise (1979)

I was only thirteen years old, in July 1976, when these events occurred. Since the very first day, I was immersed in this fantastic tale, I read every newspaper comment about it, even read the book written later by Spaggiari himself. The film is very good, of course, pulled by a convinced Giovanni. But the novel is far better, because it describes in a terrific way, what that journey through sh..., rats, all kinds of excrements, this unbelievable but true dive into the city intestines was. He tells in the book how him and his associates swallowed sh..through mouth and nose, how one vomited and let his companions sneaking behind him swallowing the vomit of the man walking just in front of him. I guess NO film could have told such things with the power of the book, written by the main actor, the man who actually lived this. Those men were not really gangsters for me, but adventurers. The description of the safe deposit room, whilst they cracked the boxes with the cutting torches, is closer to the autobiographic novel than the tunnel and sewers sequences. But those sequences among the city anus were shot in real settings. As long as I will live, I will forever be fascinated by this story. But don't forget that Spaggiari was not a gangster, a thief, yes, but not a real hoodlum. He was first an ex Indochina war soldier, a rough fighter, a former paratrooper, extreme right wing member, a sort of light heart fascist, who also hated Black people, Jews, homosexuals, who was against democracy, communism...But he was a great writer, and also a sort of poet. He was not a ruthless executive like, who was ready to sacrifice men and women for money. He despised money more than anyone else. He only searched adventure here. Only. Most of those men were never arrested, nor identified, except him and maybe a couple of the real gangsters, the safe crackers, but not his mercenaries former combat friends. And I even don't speak of the loot. The most amusing is that, after the robbery, only 317 safe deposit boxes were cracked, out of the 4000 which the safe deposit room contained; so the customers of the bank, who owned a box, did not know if yes or no their belongings had been stolen by the thieves. And they hesitated to declare to the insurances what the deposit boxes contained. They hesitated to declare their jewels, gold, cash and so on...See what I mean? All that stuff which was at first supposed to be hidden from the French IRS, was then about to be declared to the insurance companies. If the safe deposit was cracked and they declare, it was OK. But IF this same safe deposit was not, if it stayed intact, and they declare for instance ten kilograms of pure gold to the IRS for nothing... Ha ha ha Because the bank authorities DID NOT Immediately told the customers which safe was cracked or intact, and those same customers had to declare the most quickly to their insurance so that they can be refunded. Amusing story for me, but maybe not for them.

This crime drama tells the true story of Albert Spaggiari. Spaggiari (Francis Huster) masterminded one of the biggest bank jobs in modern history when he and a group of underworld types dug through the sewers to break into the Société Générale bank in Nice, France. The group, who broke in over a holiday weekend, eventually took 60 million francs. The film follows Spaggiari from the time he devises the scheme to act itself and ends with his astounding escape from custody. Huster is quite good as the likable thief and there is a fine supporting cast. Director Jose Giovanni gets a little bit political at times but it is never heavy handed. Having worked previously with both Delon and Belmondo, he handles the action well although a lot of it is routinely following the guys as they dig. The Spaggiari story also provided the groundwork for THE GREAT RIVERIA BANK ROBBERY from the same year. In that one, Ian (DEADWOOD) McShane plays the Spaggiari role as "The Brain."

It's difficult, while watching this Giovanni flick ,not to think of Jacques Becker's "le trou" (1959) ,the script of which he wrote.But whereas the heroes of Becker's masterpiece were digging a hole to escape from jail,the "heroes" of " les egouts" are digging a tunnel to rob a bank.The characters are not endearing ,former firebrands ,although the lead rather recalls some kind of "true life" Arsène Lupin ,but a humorless Lupin.One does not see why one should take an interest in those men (and woman).Robin Hoods ,they definitely are not.NB.Another version was made at about the same time "the great Riviera bank robbery" starring Ian McShane.The two versions were drastically different since that one showed the hero's paramilitary activities.

I am a lucky person because I have seen this wonderful movie. Starting from reality, Josè Giovanni turn a sharp, fast and essential movie about relationships between people from different lives, experiences and countries. These men are all working hard together to achieve their goal: steal the money from Societe Generale Bank in Nice (France). The actors are really clever to interprete even details of criminals - thieves and in particular, Francis Huster as Albert Spaggiari. It is also a film about deep friendship at the end when Albert Spaggiari escape from Prosecutor office (downstairs his friend is waiting for him on a motorbike). In real life, Albert Spaggiari jumping out of the Prosecutor office windows landed on the roof of a car parked just below (after a few months, he sent a money cheques to the owner of the car to repay the damages). Brilliant.