(Le casse). Verneuil’s remake of The Burglar steals nothing from its predecessor. Shifting the focus from incest to archrivalry, this Morricone-driven thriller pits a loopy Jean-Paul Belmondo as Azad, a crook, against dodgy cop Zacharia (Omar Sharif)—everything from A to Z. The caper consists of the theft of a fortune in emeralds from an Athens industrialist. But it’s the aftermath of the crime that counts, and according to Zacharia’s math he, not the thieves, should get all the green goodies. The Burglars begins with a near-silent safecracking and a laughable gizmo that aids in the breach, then it’s off on a terrific high-speed romp through Greece, with Belmondo doing some hair-raising stunts including a car chase that is anything but wreckless. There is a sister, sent off to an Aegean island, and a dubious seducer, played by Dyan Cannon in a prolonged walk-on—these in a nod to the novelist. But this Euro redo of The Burglar is really a second story, man.

—Steve Seid

• Written by Verneuil, Vahe Katcha, based on the novel by David Goodis. Photographed by Claude Renoir. With Jean-Paul Belmondo, Omar Sharif, Dyan Cannon, Robert Hossein. (120 mins, In English, Color, 35mm, From Sony Pictures)