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The 400 Blows - Criterion Collection
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List Price: $29.95
Our Price: $24.99
Your Save: $ 4.96 ( 17% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Criterion
Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, Claire Maurier, Guy Decomble, Georges Flamant
Directed By: François Truffaut
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: Image Entertainment
EAN: 0715515017527
Format: Black & White
Label: Criterion
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2006-05-09
Running Time: 99
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: 1959-11-16
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Editorial Reviews:
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Francois Truffaut's first and most personal feature film, told from the perspective of the director's lifelong cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel. Sensitively recreating the trials of Truffaut's own childhood, The 400 Blows unsentimentally portrays aloof parents, oppressive teachers, petty crime, and a friendship that would last a lifetime. Available after a long absence as a single-disc release.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Film of All
Comment: OK -- it's not a film for everyone. First, it's in black-and-white. Second...it's subtitled. And third...it's French! So we've already alienated much of the American audience right off the bat.
However, for those who are willing to explore a bit, they might discover a hidden gem. In my opinion, this film was Truffaut's masterpiece (easily exceeding the much-touted "Jules et Jim" as well as his other subsequent films) and its story and imagery easily stand up to multiple viewings.
I won't go to into the plot, but I'll just say that, starting with the opening scenes of Paris and the accompanying music, you're drawn into a story that is poignant and thoughtful. And no, it's not a tear-jerker. Hey, there's even some humor!
For you film buffs out there, this film is well worth watching!
An additional note...
Regarding the film's title, "The 400 Blows" is a French idiom -- as in "je faisais les quatre cents coups avec mes copains" (I was doing the 400 blows with my buddies) -- and means "getting into mischief" or doing things you're not supposed to. Typically applied to an energetic youth who's always getting into trouble.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable
Comment: The 400 Blows is a film that, many say, predated Elia Kazan's East of Eden. The 400 Blows came out in 1959; French director Francois Truffaut directed the film, which follows the difficult existence--both at home and at school--of a very young boy, Antoine (Jean Pierre Leaud).
The film's opening scene is in a classroom. The teacher sits at the head of the classroom; his sharp voice rings out over the students. A pin-up photo makes its rounds on the student's desks. The teacher is preoccupied, his head is down, and he is reading from his notes. But at the precise instant Antoine passes the pin-up, the teacher looks up and catches Antoine red-handed. The teacher orders Antoine to stand in the corner while his classmates run out for a recess in the schoolyard. Right off the bat, it's established that Antoine will suffer consequences for everything that he does. While serving his sentence in the corner of the classroom, Antoine attempts a poem on the chalkboard. The teacher sees the poem and orders Antoine to clean it off of the chalkboard. Antoine gets some rags to wipe off the chalkboard. The teacher yells at Antoine for making even more of a mess.
At home, Antoine's parents treat him as a tenant. His mother, Madame Doinel (Claire Maurier), is
Antoine's young and beautiful mother; Monsieur Doinel (Albert Remy) is Antoine's naïve stepfather. Money is short, and late at night, Antoine's parents yell at each other. They argue about money. They are behind on the bills. They argue about Antoine eating too much and getting himself into trouble at school. Antoine develops an interest in Balzac. Again, this gets Antoine into trouble. He builds a small shrine to Balzac in his parent's home. He lights a candle and places it inside this shrine. This gesture nearly burns down the apartment.
One day, Antoine skips school to have fun. He has some explaining to do the following day. His teacher is cynical and sarcastic; he's heard every excuse from Antoine. Antoine tells the teacher that his mother died. This lie wins the sympathy of his teacher. Then, a boy stops by Antoine's home. The boy asks how Antoine's feeling. Antoine missed school the day before. Antoine's parents are pissed. They go to the school and to Antoine's classroom. The teacher sees Antoine's mother; she isn't dead. The teacher feels betrayed. The angry stepfather smacks Antoine in front of his teacher and classmates. Antoine is disgraced, but he'll get more when he goes home. Instead, he runs away. Things don't get any better from this point.
400 Blows is a semi-biographical film written, produced, and directed by Francois Truffaut. The film's not all gloom. There are many funny moments to offset film's serious message. You'll be thinking about this film for a long time.
author of Gotta Be Down!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: It Endlessly Rewards Close Attention
Comment: "The Four Hundred Blows," (1959) a drama with comic touches, was the first full-length feature film from famed French director/movie critic Francois Truffaut, and is generally considered the first "Nouvelle Vogue" film - that is, new wave. Truffaut had previously been active as a movie critic on "Cahiers du Cinema," a well-known French magazine devoted largely to American films, when, almost on a bet, he decided to try his hand at film-making. The result, "400 Blows," at 99 minutes, made when he was just 28, is, of course, world-famous. It is generally considered a pioneering film, and a triumph of movie-making. It's still fresh, interesting, closely-observed, and intense, after all these years.
Truffaut both wrote and directed his script. It's set in dreary wintertime Paris, in the part of the city where Truffaut grew up, the working class "banlieus" of Montmartre, far from its iconic tourist attractions. Much of the film is set in an extremely cramped apartment, six flights up, typical working class housing of the time, where the young Antoine Doinel is nightly sent down with the garbage.
We see Antoine, meant to be 12 years old, and instinctively played by the 15-year old Jean-Pierre Leaud, at home, with his somewhat neglectful, distracted parents. His kindly stepfather, Julian Doinel (Albert Remy), married his beautiful mother Gilberte (Claire Maurier), giving his name to her illegitimately-born son, who initially lived with his grandmother. His mother doesn't seem to much care for her boy. We also see Antoine at school, where he is definitely not a teacher's pet. We're supposed to believe that the boy's somewhat unsupportive environment causes him to run away and predisposes him to a life of petty crime. Though frankly, compared to the horrors we've seen, in the way of abusive families and dysfunctional schools, nothing about his young life seems that terrible to me. Be that as it may, Doinel does run away; with his young friend Rene, he goes to the movies a lot, and slips into petty criminality. He's found out, goes through the justice system, as his parents wash their hands of him, and is sent to reform school.
Truffaut told interviewers he was strongly influenced by the films of Alfred Hitchcock, and, closer to home, Jean Renoir, son of the famous painter Pierre Auguste. The director believed that this first film of his was the first film to center on a child, in an unsentimental way, and to treat its material in an almost documentary style. All sources agree that the picture is strongly semi-autobiographical: Truffaut was illegitimately born, and raised by his grandparents; he started his heavy movie-going at age seven. He was a great reader but not a good pupil, and left school at 14 to get a job. He was sent to jail for desertion from the army.
The movie, an accretion of wonderful interludes, endlessly rewards close attention. There's a schoolboy ripping his copybook apart, as his pen keeps blotting the pages. A punch and judy show filmed before a live audience of little children, showing their fresh, unguarded reactions, as it was done with a hidden camera. A jog, supposedly supervised by the gym teacher, taken through the streets of Paris by the schoolboys: Truffaut's camera shows the boys quietly peeling off. Antoine's shaken-up ride in a gravitron at a local amusement park. The little shrine Antoine sets up at home to famed French author Honore Balzac, whose work he loves: he lights a candle to the author, and sets the apartment on fire. And, finally, a remarkable long tracking shot of Antoine running, running, running away from the reform school towards the sea, which he's never seen. And a freeze-frame shot at the seashore that film scholars will probably argue about for a good long time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beautiful cinematography
Comment: Antonine Doinel, is a 13 year old boy who gets in trouble at school, gets yelled at by his Mom and Dad and eventually runs away from home to a life of petty crime with his friend. He eventually gets caught and is sent to reform school by his parents.
This cinematography in this movie is first rate - even in black and white - boosting my rating from a 2 to a 3. Beautiful scenes of Paris, the countryside, the ocean, the school yards and the facial expressions of the main characters.
However, I found the storyline unbelievable. Antonine did not strike me as having such a difficult upbringing to lead to his skipping school, committing petty theft and running away from home. He had food to eat. His parents loved him. He had shelter. His parents seemed quite well intentioned even with the latch key aspects of his upbringing. His parents also seemed far too well intentioned to dump him in reform school over some minor crimes. Finally, the pace of this movie is excruciatingly slow. This movie wasn't for me.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Intriguing.
Comment: The 400 Blows is a beautiful black and white french film. The cinematography is breathtaking and the acting is glorious. I watched this gem for my College film class a few years back and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The ending is a bit disappointing but this film has always stayed with me, I highly recommend checking this classic out!
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