Louis Malle's unpersuasive drama about small-time crooks with big-time dreams finds the director on foreign soil and not gripping our emotions, but still getting fine performances from his actors, who include Burt Lancaster, splendidly cast as an ageing gangster, Susan Sarandon and Michel Piccoli. Despite winning five Oscar nominations, including Best Actor (Lancaster, to whom this is showing in tribute), Best Actress (the delightful Sarandon), Best Director and Best Picture, the movie emerged from the year's Oscar ceremonies empty-handed, and, notwithstanding its carefully conceived style and deeply-etched portraits, it does leave a faintly unpleasant aftertaste.

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