Bob Hoskins: My Favourite Film

He's made 80 international films and starred on the London stage. He's 61, ruggedly handsome, a courteous and unassuming man with a self-deprecatory sense of humour. He's Bob Hoskins and simply wild about Rififi. But at first he thought she was a French tart:

"When I was a kid, in my early teens, the main thing was getting away with under-age smoking, having a drink, and big things like seeing an X-film. I don't mean sneaking in. I mean going in and buying a ticket, and being accepted as an adult. This night, me and a couple of mates went to this old flea pit. It was tiny - it's gone now. The film was called Rififi.

"It was an X. It was French - Rififi had to be a French tart. We went in - I'm sure the girl selling tickets didn't believe we were over-age. Anyhow, eventually we were let in.

"Within 3 minutes, my mates realised it wasn't going to be what we thought. They left, I stayed. I was hooked. It was magic. No other film before or since has had the same effect. It took me over.

"I only saw it once, nearly 50 years ago, but practically every frame stayed fixed in my mind. Recently, they brought out a DVD of Rififi - I bought it. I took it home, and was delighted that it was as good as I remembered it.

"I'll not tell you about it. I do ask you to remember that it was made in 1954. Films have changed a lot since then, but in the last 50 years, Rififi has been an enormous influence on young film-makers - and directly responsible for a lot of the changes made in film.

"For me, Rififi was the first. And for my money - it's still the best."

END

Rififi review

Bob Hoskins was speaking at London's Electric Cinema introducing a Grand Classics screening of Rififi. Grand Classics are sponsored by Sky Movies and Skyy Vodka with ticket proceeds to the British Film Institute for the restoration of classic films. Further details: Tracey Carr, Flagship Publicity, 020 7292 7366, tc@flagshippublicity.com

report by John Park / Wednesday 5 May 04 / Electric Cinema

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Refifi - International Movie Database

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