The Upper Hand (Du rififi à Paname) is a 1966 French thriller film about gold smuggling[2] based on the novel by Auguste Le Breton and starring Jean Gabin, George Raft and Gert Fröbe.

[3] Paul Berger, known as Paulo les diams, is a smuggler who works with his old friend Walter, an antique dealer married to Irene.

The filmmakers hoped for an international audience and cast several non French actors including Gert Froebe and George Raft.

[1][4] The New York Times called it "meandering, stilted and extremely flat melodrama" which "spurts to life towards the end" when Gabin meets George Raft and "the two men lock eyeballs like two king cobras" with "a chilling authenticity".

[1] On July 13, 1968, during the projection of The Upper Hand in the "20. oktobar" cinema in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, a bomb was detonated, killing one person and injuring 89.