Max et les ferrailleurs

English title: Max and the Junkmen

Genre: crime drama

With: Michel Piccoli (Max), Romy Schneider (Julia Anna ‟Lili” Ackermann), Georges Wilson (the Commissioner), Bernard Fresson (Abel Maresco), François Périer (Rosinsky), Boby Lapointe (Lui Serafino, ‟P'tit Lu”), Michel Creton (Robert Saïdani),  Henri-Jacques Huet (Cyriaque, ‟Dromadaire”), Jacques Canselier (Jean-Marie Patinet, ‟Jean-Jean”), Maurice Auzel (Antoine ‟Tony” Chantoiseau), Philippe Léotard (Losfeld)

Director: Claude Sautet

Screenplay: Jean-Loup Dabadie, Claude Sautet and Claude Néron (based on Claude Néron's novel)

Release: 1971

Studio: Fida Cinematografica, Lira Films, Sonocam

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.5/10

  

Entrapment with a Twist 

 

QuickView

Story-line: Max, a police detective, has made a major boo-boo. Having heard from an informer that a big heist would be pulled off at a Parisian bank, he laid a careful trap but the robbers attacked the bank’s head office instead, killing one clerk, injuring another and making off with 80 million francs. With his confidence shattered and his career in limbo, Max investigates further and is led to Abel, a former acquaintance who carelessly tells him that he deals in stolen cars and metals. For a hapless cop like Max, so eager to restore his reputation on the force, Abel is a godsend.  

Pluses: formidable acting by Michel Piccoli (a serious, cunning Max), Romy Schneider, Bernard Fresson and an able cast, tight, efficient, informative direction, a complete and complex screenplay notable for its gripping character interplay, colourful dialogues and hints of dark humour, intelligent editing by Jacqueline Thiédot, René Mathelin’s attractive cinematography (even in drab locations), appropriate production values, a strange, effective musical score (Philippe Sarde) and an unexpected ending.

Minuses: the first 20 minutes may seem underwhelming but are useful in setting up this superb cops-and-robbers story. On a personal note, Max is an untidy fellow and rather bad at parking a motor car.

Comments: MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS is a small-scale, psychology-driven wonder that mesmerized me as I watched our detective play mind games with Abel, Lili and the junkmen. As the old saying goes, crime doesn’t pay… but this movie will reward you with its genuine star power, inexorable buildup of tension and taut, brilliantly executed story. 

 

MBiS 

© 2026 – All rights reserved