They all leave, that first night, to escort two showgirls to the strip club where they work; they are Lola (Dora Doll) and Josy (Jeanne Moreau at 25), who Riton regards as his mistress. At the club, we meet the drug dealer Angelo (Lino Ventura) and the club owner Pierrot (Paul Frankeur), a k a "Fats." Max and Angelo seem to be on good terms, but a little later Max opens the door of a dressing room and sees Josy being embraced by Angelo.
This would come as particularly bad news to Riton, who fancies himself a ladies' man and thinks Josy belongs to him, but look how elegantly Becker resolves the situation. Instead of telling his pal that he's a cuckold, Max advises Riton to give up Josy. He points out aging playboys steering hookers around the dance floor, calls attention to the bags under Riton's eyes and suggests they go home early. Riton suggests he stay for one more drink. No, says Max, with that flat, calm Gabin delivery; he knows what one more drink will lead to: A bottle of champagne with Angelo, and then having to take the girls out for onion soup, and then having to have sex ... it's easier just to leave now.
The plot resolves itself as a race between Max's attempts to fence the gold bars through his Uncle Oscar (another cadaverous relic with a young mistress), and Angelo's attempts to kidnap Riton and find out where the loot is hidden. Max senses something fishy is going on and warns Riton; that leads to their midnight dinner. And as the two old friends turn out the lights, we realize this opening sequence has occupied some 40 minutes with flawless storytelling that has consisted almost entirely of small talk in the restaurant and the club, and then a subdued chase as Max is tailed to his home.
What happens the next day, I will leave for you to discover, describing only an extraordinary scene where Max learns Riton has been nabbed. Max knows this means the gold bars will be required as ransom. But he's less concerned about the gold than about his pal, and he has a wonderful soliloquy, an interior monologue, which we hear in voice-over, as Max paces his apartment. He talks about what a dope Riton is, and what a burden he has been for 20 years: "There's not a tooth in his head that hasn't cost me a bundle." We understand that Max, who is competent above all things, almost values Riton's inability to live without his help. At the end of his soliloquy, instead of growing angry as a conventional gangster might, Max opens a bottle of champagne, plays a forlorn harmonica solo on his jukebox, sits in a comfortable chair and lights a cigarette. He treasures his creature comforts, especially when he might be about to lose them.
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