Parts of this list have been excerpted from other lists.
January is miserable. The worst month. I wish it were summer, or at least spring. I am sure you all agree with me.
But! I have a solution. While I can’t speed up time or change the earth’s rotation, I can suggest to you some sunny, blithe capers and heists set in the South of France, which is objectively a better place to be than where I am right now, which is New York in January.
We’ve got some American classics, some French classics, some modern-set masterpieces, some swanky 50s and 60s flicks. I’m not putting Bonjour Tristesse on this list because… I mean, look at the title. Will that cheer you up?
But, basically, whatever you want that’s chipper or at least exciting, we’ve got it on the menu. Bon appetit… and bon weekend.
To Catch a Thief (1965)
To Catch a Thief is an extremely randy Hitchcock movie (I would say the randiest), in which former jewel thief Cary Grant is enjoying his retirement on the French Riviera, until he is suspected to be up to his old tricks when some wealthy tourists’ valuables go missing. But vacationer Grace Kelly is more interested in stealing his heart (despite their horrifying age difference), planning her capture of him just as methodically as she plans to help clear his name.
La Piscine (1969)
A pool overlooking the beach! I’ll take it! Even though… In La Piscine, two vacationing lovers (the real life ex-couple Alain Delon and Romy Schneider) are hanging out at a villa along the French Riviera when the arrival of Maurice Ronet and his daughter Jane Birkin cause passions to flare and tensions to rise… with disastrous consequences. Every time I watch this movie, I think about how *I* wouldn’t murder anyone by this pool.
Priceless (2006)
This French comedy starring Audrey Tautou as a hustler is based on Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but it’s set along the Côte d’Azur instead of New York City, which is fine with me, because I wish I were set along the Côte d’Azur instead of New York City. When she mistakes a hotel bartender for a millionaire guest, the two of them wind up digging deep into the gold digger lifestyle as they chase one another.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Michael Caine and Steve Martin are two rival con men in a race to see who can swindle American heiress Glenne Headley out of her fortune in this classic comedy set along the French Rivera.
Pierrot le Fou (1965)
Is Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le Fou a crime film? Kinda? Is it a very atmospheric romp set along some of the most beautiful waterfront spots in France? Yes.
Foreign Intrigue (1956)
This splendid, brightly-colored can-we-even-call-it-noir-now noir stars Robert Mitchem as a journalist who takes money from a millionaire to create false press releases. But when the millionaire dies, suddenly, he is plunged into a world of secrets, blackmail, and Ex-Nazis. Foreign intrigue, indeed!
Rebecca (1940)
I’m not talking about the insipid remake with Armie Hammer, but the original, Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece. The good people who read CrimeReads do not need me to tell them to watch Rebecca, but I’m underscoring it because watching a scene in which a house burns down might be the very thing you need, lately, idk.
Ronin (1998)
Come for the heist story, stay for the elegant car chases through several French cities. Veritable, this movie might have the best car-chase camerawork in a heist movie, if not the best cinematography, which was completed by legendary DP Robert Fraisse. Directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Robert De Niro, starring it’s about a group of former special-ops agents who are tasked with stealing a briefcase. But the real trouble is figuring out who among them remains loyal to the rest.
And Suddenly It’s Murder! (1960)
This cuckoo Italian classic is about five strangers riding a train to Monte Carlo who are all implicated somehow in the death of a wealthy passenger. If that sounds like a party… it is. Just look at these people!
Once Upon a Crime… (1992)
The great Eugene Levy adapted And Suddenly It’s Murder! into Once Upon a Crime… and packed it with a tremendous slate of mostly-American talent: John Candy, Jim Belushi, Cybill Shepherd, Sean Young, George Hamilton, Giancarlo Giannini, Ornella Muti, and (Larry David’s best friend on Curb) the comedian Richard Lewis.
The Good Thief (2002)
This very, very underrated movie stars Nick Nolte as an aging, heroin-addicted thief who needs to pull One Last Job. Based on Jean-Pierre Melville’s classic Bob le Flambeur, it’s directed by Neil Jordan and features unbeatable shots of Nice, France at night, all lit up in neon.
French Kiss (1995)
In this classic rom-com beloved by both my mom’s French best friend *and* the Bostonian Editor-in-Chief of this crime website, Kevin Kline plays a French petit-smuggler and Meg Ryan plays a neurotic American and they cross paths on Meg Ryan’s way to France to track down her cheating fiance Timothy Hutton. Obviously they get on each other’s nerves but also obviously fall in love. As you will with this film. Good luck streaming it, though.
