An adaptation of the novel of the same name by José Giovanni, who collaborated with Sautet and Pascal Jardin on the screenplay, the film tells the story of a French mobster on the run with his family, who returns to Paris with help from a new criminal acquaintance and confronts the members of his old gang.

The robbery did not yield as much money as expected, so, to enter France, Abel steals a boat in Sanremo and lands with his family and Raymond at night in Menton, but they are surprised by two customs officers, and there is a shootout.

On the way to Paris, Éric saves a young actress named Liliane from her tour manager and offers her a ride, and she agrees to pose as a nurse for Abel, who is wrapped in fake bandages, to help get through any police roadblocks they come across.

Abel kills Gibelin and then Fargier, whose wife dies of shock, and Riton agrees to cooperate with the police, who storm Eric's building.

[citation needed] In a 2005 review of the re-release of the film, A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote: "Claude Sautet's Classe Tous Risques is the kind of French movie that makes you want to throw on your trench coat, light up a cigarette and shoot somebody.

[...] It is worth seeking out, not only because Classe Tous Risques represents a missing piece of film history - a link between the great postwar policiers and the brooding 1960's gangster dramas of Jean-Pierre Melville - but because it is a tough and touching exploration of honor and friendship among thieves.

"[3] Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times wrote in 2006 that "To come across Classe Tous Risques is like discovering a bottle of marvelous French wine you didn't remember you had, opening it and finding it every bit as delicious as its reputation promised."