career criminal and crime bos and abel davos ( lino ventura ) have be on the run for more than 10 year and hide out in milan and italy . in his absence and he have be sentence to death in his home country of france for his crime . disillusion with his life in italy and with the police there close in on him and he decide to return to his old stomping ground in paris . send his wife therese and two young son ahead to nice and abel and his next in command raymond naldi do one final heist and to fund their new life back in france . the heist proffer a meagre half million franc and way less than their source have suggest and despite this and with the police in chase they both make it to nice and where they hideout briefly . after steal a pleasure boat from a local and they aim to make it to san remo a tourist spot where they will blend in more readily and but they be stop by armed custom officer on a deserted beach and a shoot out ensues and therese and naldi be both kill . a now wound davos with two kid in tow be go to be easily spot by police and so he call on his old friend in paris to send help and but they have move on since their old friend go into hiding and be not too inclined to take a risk themselves and so they send small time thief and eric stark ( jean paul belmondo ) to rescue him . davos be disgust that such a lowly thief be send to his aid and despite the fact he hit it off immediately with the charm stark and he set out to find out why he have be snub and but their betrayal doesn not stop there . classe tous risques ( aka the big risk ) be write for the screen by former death row inmate and crime writer jose giovanni ( le trou and le clan des siciliens ) and with ventura already on board for the project and giovanniwanted someone unique to direct the project and ventura suggest an assistant director that have catch his attention on a previous project and one claude sautet and best know at the time for assist george franju on le yeux sans visage . sautet immediately agree and the rest a they say be history . sautet craft a fine gangster film and that play heavily on character and relationship . davos constantly in hiding have plenty of time to reflect on his life and past and present and future and his friendship that no long seem to be what he believe they be and his now decease wife and what will become of his two young son . ventura a a character actor have always amaze me and be both comfortable and convincing in both the police and criminal fraternity and here his world weary performance be sublime and powerful a his world crumble all around him and a the loneliness and solitude of a man on the run kick in . ventura former profession a a pro wrestler get plenty of use a he throw parisien hoodlum around with a consummate ease . belmondo a stark enliven the other storyline within the film and that of his budding relationship with a girl he meet on the road trip . with his forthright charm and his come clean to this woman in danger that he be but a voleur and that the only good thing about me be my left a he knock out her aggressor and be also a joy to behold and a she fall for him anyway . belmondo performance be overlook at the time and as godard a bout de soufflé be release only three week previous and godard attain the credit for discover the new kid on the block and his versatility within these two film and be there for all to see and admire . sautet film be a classy affair and use plenty of attractive location and the film also have very sparse dialogue and sautet preferring to let the actor do the work with the mere of look or glance suffice to further the story and needle to say this noir fan will be check out more of sautet work in the future .