Les Spécialistes (The Specialists) is a 1985 French action/heist film directed by Patrice Leconte.
In South-East France, Stéphane Carella (Gérard Lanvin) is a bank robber who's being transferred to another prison. During the transfer, he is handcuffed to Paul Brandon (Bernard Giraudeau), another outlaw. Brandon uses a pause of their transfer convoy to make a run for it dragging Carella with him, which the handcuff makes quite difficult. They manage to escape the manhunt by the police and meet Laura (Christiane Jean), a widow living in an isolated house. Brandon reveals to Carella that he has planned to rob the vault of a mafia-owned casino in Nice, and the two set out to pull it off, with Laura helping them as it turns out the police shot her husband dead.
Les Spécialistes provides examples of:
- '80s Hair: Laura's long and curly perm.
- Artistic License – Economics: There's 3 billion francs inside the safe. There's no way such an amount (in bank notes) could fit in a bag like it does in the film.
- Bank Robbery: What Carella has been condemned for, initially. Then Brandon and him set out to rob a Mafia-owned casino.
- Buddy Picture: Brandon and Carella are not friends initially but they grow into this over the course of the story.
- The Caper: The two protagonists plan an elaborate bank heist.
- Car Fu: At the end, Brandon charges the mobsters in a big dump truck, crushing one of their cars under its wheels and pushing another in a sand ravine where it explodes.
- The Casino: The robbers' target is the vault of the mafia-owned Mazetti Casino in Nice.
- Chained Heat: Carella and Brandon are handcuffed together when escaping from their transfer convoy and must work together to have a chance of staying free and surviving. It's particularly tricky when they have to climb a cliff. It turns out Brandon was actually an undercover cop, chained to Carella on purpose so he'd gain his trust and convince him to work on the robbery, although the gendarmes didn't know it.
- Dirty Cop: At the end, Commissioner Kovacs, in addition to being a jerkass, sells Carella and Brandon off to the mobsters whose money was in Mazetti's safe.
- The Don: Mazetti is a powerful leader in The Mafia. Apparently, he's Italian-American considering he speaks English with an American accent.
- Easily-Overheard Conversation: Laura reveals to Brandon and Carella that she easily heard them talk about the heist through the door of their room.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: One of the two cars of the mobsters who came at Carella to get the money back ends up in a sand ravine and explodes.
- Flipping the Bird: Carella flips the bird to Brandon after leaving the car over their argument pertaining to the "impossible" nature of the heist.
- Friendly, Playful Dolphin: Laura is a doplhin trainer at a marine mammal park (the Marineland in Antibes, more specifically) and her dolphins behave accordingly.
- Garbage Hideout: After Brandon and Carella enter the casino through the underground car park, they hide in a garbage container till the guard leaves the car park, then get in the vault's area through the garbage chute.
- Getaway Driver: Carella is at the wheel when he and Brandon make their escape after successfully robbing the casino's vault.
- The Ground Is Lava: The safe room's ground is pressure-sensitive, so Brandon and Carella must navigate in it without their feet ever touching the ground (or anything falling on it) to avoid triggering the alarm.
- Handy Cuffs: Brandon uses the handcuff to strangle (although non-fatally) the cop watching over both he and Carella when the convoy is stopped, then they escape.
- Hero Stole My Bike: Brandon and Carella steal a 1960s Volkswagen Beetle to a family on vacation in order to move faster during their escape.
- Hollywood Hacking: A 1980s version of it when Carella hacks into the casino's frequency as Mazetti types the vault's door's code, which Carella then has printed from a distance.
- Impossible Mission: The heist itself has very few chances of success, and the protagonists have an argument over it after visiting the vault disguised as insurance agents. The film's tagline plays this up with "It was impossible. They did it!".
- Literal Cliff Hanger: During their escape, Brandon and Carella have to climb some pretty high cliffs in the Verdon Gorge
. In one instance, Brandon finds himself dangling on the handcuff over the gorge, and his weight is quite painful for Carella's arm. - Mob War: The true goal of the heist is to cause a gang war to cause the downfall of Mazetti.
- No Escape but Down: Upon being Pinned Down in a cave on the cliff they just climbed, Brandon and Carella end up jumping in the river below.
- The Not-Love Interest: Despite the setup, Laura never gets romantically involved with either Brandon or Carella.
- Odd Couple: At first, Carella (who just wanted to finish his prison sentence without a fuss) and Brandon (a daredevil who wants to rob the most secure vault in all of Southern France) really can't stand each other.
- Right Under Their Noses: While driving in the Volkswagen Beetle they stole, Carella and Brandon see the gendarmerie convoy that's looking for them pass by them without a reaction.
- Robbing the Mob Bank: In that case, the protagonists plan to rob the high security vault of a mafia-owned Casino in Nice. Brandon ends up admitting he's doing it as part of his job in order to cause the downfall of Mazetti, first and foremost.
- Run for the Border: Brandon and Carella cross the border into nearby Italy at the end.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After both Carella and Brandon visited the vault, Carella is discouraged from attempting the heist and leaves. A False Flag Operation from cops passing as Mazetti's men brings him back to the heist team.
- Shout-Out: Stéphane Carella's name is a reference to a similarly named character played by Jean-Louis Trintignant in the 1971 film Sans mobile apparent, which also takes place in Nice.
- The Stoic: Laura doesn't talk much and doesn't show much emotions.
- Surprise Inspection Ruse: Brandon and Carella pretend to be insurance agents at Mazetti's casino so they can "inspect" the vault to plan the heist accordingly.
- Swiss-Cheese Security: The door system of the vault and the safe room's pressure-sensitive ground are top notch for their time, but the access to the vault is relatively easy through the garbage chute from the underground car park.
- Tagline: "It was impossible. They did it!"
- Undercover Cop Reveal: Brandon is revealed to be a cop.
- Vulnerable Convoy: Carella and Brandon find an opportunity to escape when the convoy is stopped and there's only one cop to watch over them.
- Wunza Plot: One's a bank robber, the other's a maverick cop. They rob the mob's bank.
- You All Meet in a Cell: Carella and Brandon meet in captivity, although Brandon's actually an undercover cop.
- You Have Failed Me: Mazetti is executed while his car is stuck in a very narrow alley, by another prominent mobster whose money he had to keep in the safe.
