The Burglars [DVD] [1971]

This French-made feature was based on a 1957 Hollywood "B" effort The Burglar. Both films were inspired by the same David Goodis novel. Gallic crime-flick icon Jean Paul Belmondo play a slick jewel thief who steals a valuable emerald. He is stalked by cop Omar Sharif, who when he catches up to Belmondo reveals himself to be a fellow crook, interested only in a piece of the action. Diane Cannon plays the "gun moll" role created by Jayne Mansfield in the 1957 film. Burglars ends with a set-to in a Greek grain elevator, where Sharif is smothered in a cascade of wheat--a climax later borrowed for the American crime thriller Witness (82).~Hal Erickson