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"Franz (Sami Frey) and Artur (Claude Brasseur) are two French youngsters attending an English class with Odile (Anna Karina). Soon all becoming friends, Odile volunteers information about some loot being stored in her aunt's (Louisa Colpeyn) home outside of Paris. Fascinated by American outlaws and crime films, Franz and Artur concoct a scheme of robbery, forcing Odile to go along. Though Artur's underworld uncle (Ernest Menzer) would like in on the fun, they leave him out. Much to their disappointment, he cannot be ignored so easily. Concerned with the characters' isolation and misguided fantasy, French writer/director Jean-Luc Godard spends more screen time with character study than with the actual events. Not long after Contempt hit the box office, critics at the time suggested this feature to be more accessible to mainstream audiences. Slightly divergent from Godard's prior films, Bande a part/Band of Outsiders does include Godard's sardonic and artistic style, but not the usual jump cuts and roving camera shots--whether because of Godard's artistic choice or financial influence (the film was completed with a budget of $100,000). Godard based his screenplay on Dolores Hitchens' novel Fool's Gold."
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Band of Outsiders (1964)
97 min
Cinephile slackers Franz and Arthur spend their days mimicking the antiheroes of Hollywood noirs and Westerns while pursuing the lovely Odile. The misfit trio upends convention at every turn, be it through choreographed dances in cafés or frolicsome romps through the Louvre. Eventually, their romantic view of outlaws pushes them to plan their own heist, but their inexperience may send them out in a blaze of glory -- which could be just what they want.