Rififi in Amsterdam

Summary

Crime film about an ex-criminal who is pursued by a gang of hoodlums.

The ‘Rififi’ films were French policiers, a popular genre in the 1960s. They formed the inspiration for producer Joop Landré’s home-grown thriller Rififi in Amsterdam. It tells the story of ex-criminal Bert Oliemans who goes down for stealing some jewellery from a former SS man. After his release he is constantly watched, both by police commissioner Van Houthem and a greedy gang leader. Van Houthem manages to get his hands on the jewels but Oliemans has already done his time and walks off into the sunset with a gangster’s moll.

Rififi in Amsterdam, a homage to the French police films of the time, marked producer Joop Landré’s third film venture. His two previous films - Makkers staakt uw wild geraas (The joyous eve) and Het mes (The knife) - had been critical successes but did not do well at the box office and Landré decided to change tack. He thought that if he made a few big audience winners (like Rififi), enough money would be generated to finance the art films he really wanted to produce. It didn’t happen that way. After two more films - De vergeten medeminnaar (The lost lover) and 10.32 (Murder in Amsterdam) - Landré had had enough of producing and went on to head public broadcasting company TROS.

Rififi contains two remarkable performances, one by famous singer Willy Alberti, who in his role as bartender sings ‘Kijk me nog eenmaal aan’ (Look at me one more time) and another by the incredibly popular judo champion Anton Geesink, in his first acting role.