Max and the Junkmen

Max (Michel Piccoli) is a Paris detective hell-bent on justice at any cost after watching one too many wily criminals slip through his fingers. Following a chance encounter with Abel (Bernard Fresson), an army buddy now working as a scrap collector (most of whose "scrap" just happens to be stolen), Max decides to lure Abel and his gang into committing a bank robbery...so that he can then catch them red-handed. So Max poses as a wealthy banker and begins a series of illicit rendezvous with the high-class prostitute Lily (Romy Schneider), who happens to be Abel's girlfriend, carefully dropping hints about a bank that's just waiting to be knocked over. But there's one thing the cold-hearted Max doesn't factor into his diabolical scheme: the possibility of falling in love.