When French criminal Corey gets released from prison, he resolves to never return. He is quickly pulled back into the underworld, however, after a chance encounter with escaped murderer Vogel. Along with former policeman and current alcoholic Jansen, they plot an intricate jewel heist. All the while, quirky Police Commissioner Mattei, who was the one to lose custody of Vogel, is determined to find him.

Alain Delon
as Corey

Bourvil
as Commissioner François Mattei

Gian Maria Volonté
as Vogel

Yves Montand
as Jansen

François Périer
as Santi

Paul Crauchet
as The Receiver

André Ekyan
as Rico

Paul Amiot
as Marchand, Inspector General of Police

Pierre Collet
as Prison Guard

Jean-Pierre Posier
as Mattei's Assistant
CRCulver
Jean-Pierre Meville's 1970 film <i>Le Cercle rouge</i> (The Red Circle) is a crime caper based on the interplay of several initially unacquainted individuals. As Melville's fake quote from the Buddha that serves as the intertitle goes, "When men, even unknowingly, are to meet one day, whatever may b...
CinemaSerf
Though it takes quite a while to get going, and I constantly wanted to rub that annoying moustache from the face of Alain Delon ("Corey") I really rather enjoyed this crime caper. Delon recruits the dapper ex-cop with a drink problem - "Jansen" (Yves Montand), and the recently escaped "Vogel" (Gian ...