French flicks with flics, ripoux, gangsters, and official functionariesJul 14 '06 (Updated Jan 07 '09) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Toujours Jean-Pierre Melville! Viva Delon, Gabin, Signoret, Ventura!
In the (long) course of Ifif1938's French find writeoff, I have viewed or re-viewed a number of French gangster movies, policiers, and cinéma noir movies. Although I laid out a checklist of criterial noir features, I have become less and less confident that clear boundaries can be marked between these three genres. Conventional American wisdom identifies "The Thin Man" (1940) as the first noir movie. In that this was the third Warner Brothers adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's novel, this starting mark has always seemed questionable to me. The 1940 version, clearly the best of the three, does not strike me as shadowier or the characters more amoral than "Satan Met a Lady" (1936, with the lady in it being Bette Davis in her early blonde period). Unless being made in America is a criterion, I don't see how the 1938 and 1939 collaborations between writer Jacques Prévert, director Marcel Carné, and actor Jean Gabin — Le quai de brumes (Port of Shadows, 1938), Hôtel du Nord (Hotel of the North, 1939), and Le jour se lève, (Daybreak, 1939) and Gabin in the title role of "Pépé le Moko," can be excluded from the category "noir." This does not mean that I think that the French invented the genre in addition to (later) coining the label cinéma noir, because I think that German expressionist and post-expressionist movies (especially Fritz Lang's "M") and German and American gangster movies (especially Lang's Dr. Mabuse films and Howard Hawks's "Scarface") were major sources of noirs. I would want to put Jean-Pierre Melville's "Le Samouraï" atop any list of French noirs. By my own criteria, it can't be one, because it was filmed in color (washed out color, but still color stock). It, and the follow-up in which Melville again directed Alain Delon, "Le cercle rouge," are neo-noirs. Delon also starred in a great policier (police procedural) directed by Melville, "Un flic, "and spent the late-1960s and early-1970s playing a succession of gangsters or policemen for lesser directors (along with two turns as terminally alienated characters under the direction of Joseph Losey in "The Assassination of Trotsky" and "Monsieur Klein"). I have decided to list some of my favorites (aka "the best") by subgenre—taking "organized crime" in a somewhat wider than usual sense. First, heist films: Although there were plenty of holdups in 1930s gangster movies, the modern heist movie was crafted by John Huston in 1950 in "The Asphalt Jungle." Jean-Pierre Melville was supposed to direct "Rififi," but in consideration of the difficult times Jules Dassin (director of the great noir filmed in London, "Night and the City") was having as a refugee from Hollywood blacklisting, stood down, and waited until before making Le cercle rouge (The Red Circle, 1970) with just-released prisoner Corey (Alain Delon) organizing a daring jewelry-store hiest, with a stowaway ex-con (Gian Maria Volenté) and an alcoholic former top marksman (and discharged policeman) played by Yves Montand. They are hunted down by a policeman played by André Bourvil. Corey first takes revenge on a gang boss who betrayed him, then methodically plans the hiest, and then is just as methodically hunted down. "Le Cercle Rouge" is chilly in look and perspective and meticulously constructed. It is devoid of romance, devoid of sex, nearly devoid of sentiment, and lacking speaking parts for women. Melvile's late films creates "a universe without the possibility for salvation, in which love and friendship are brief interludes in the cat-and-mouse games that lead to certain destruction" (quoting Steve Cohn). I think "Le samouraï" is the best (focused more tightly on a single existentialist protagonist), but "Le Cercle Rouge" is an impressive heir of the 1940s cinema noire tradition (complete with trench-coats, fedoras, frequent cigarettes, and an American car) and a bridge to hard-boiled color films of the 1990s and 2000s. I was much less impressed than many others have been by Melville's 1955 "Bob le flambeur." I enjoyed the first collaboration between Jean Gabin and Alain Delon, Any Number Can Win, (1963, directed by Henri Veneuil) more. Having been unimpressed by the Hollywood remake of "Bob" (The Good Thief), I have been in no hurry to watch the original again to see if I've changed my mind (or why it left me cold). They were also good being relentelessly hunted down by Lino Ventura in "The Sicilian Clan" (1969) also directed by Henri Veneuiland Two Men in Town (1973) written and directed by José Giovanni. Touchez pas au grisbi, ((Don't Touch the Loot, 1954) directed by Jacques Becker restored Jean Gabin to stardom, and is almost as good as Becker's "Casque d'or" (which is on the next list). Becker set up complex relationships among a large set of characters. He telegraphed nothing, so that the viewer (at least this one) puts together pieces observed earlier that he or she (or I) did not know were important. For the actual heist scenes, I prefer Dassin's (1964) "Topkapi" to his (1956) "Rififi," though "Rififi" is a more focused movie. (I enjoy the distractions of Peter Ustinov in "Topkapi," but not Melina Mercouri's role or performance). I think that Le cercle rouge is the best, followed by Rififi, Touchez pas au grisbi, Any Number Can Win, and Bob le flambeur (all involve gangs, either ad hoc ones or established ones with new members) Hunted/haunted criminals: Alain Delon as Jeff Costello, the hit-man who has been betrayed by his organized crime clients is the ne plus ultra of the savvy but weary man on the run in Melville's "Le Samouraï" (1967) . He is alienated from nonhomicidal human contact, though he has a canary that attempts to warn him of trouble. Delon plays a former thief trying to go straight, but persecuted with a Lt. Javert (from Les Misèrables) cop in Two Men in Town (1973, directed by José, Giovanni) a gang leader in Borsalino (1970), and its sequel Borsalino and Company (1974) , both directed by Jacques Deray). And Delon played several gangster roles in the Alain Delon Collection, including an escaped prisoner on the run who is sheltered by Simone Signoret in "The Widow Couderc" (1971) and a gypsy wanted man in "Le gitan" (1975, directed by José Giovanni). And what could be more organized crime than the KGB? Delon plays the assassin of Leon Trotsky in "The Assassination of Trotsky" (directed by Joseph Losey, in English, in 1972). (Delon played a modern-day Jean Valjean in English in Ralph Nelson's "Once a Thief" (1965) with Van Heflin playing his Javert; there have also been many film versions of "Les Misèrables" in its 19th-century garb; the one I like best has Charles Laughton relentlessly hounding Frederic March.) In Jacques Becker's Casque d'or (Helmet of Gold, 1952), set in the 1890s, is also an ex-con (Serge Reggian) trying to go straight, but one who has offended gang-leader (Claude Dauphin) who has a policeman in his pocket. Among other virtues, this film gives Simone Signoret a superb part with the proverbial gamut of emotions. She was also memorable as one of Zola's doomed heroines in the last great Prévert/Carné films (one without gang connections, and with Raf Vallone as homicidal putty in Signoret's hands), Thérèse Raquin (which I wrote about at www.associatedcontent.com /article/1218822/three_movie_adaptations_of_emile_zola.html?cat=40). Although based on a 19th-century novel, the second half of the movie is very much in the world of "The Postman Always Rings Twice:" and "Double Indemnity." Marcel André is excellent as a cynical, feral blackmailer drifter (the most noir character in the movie whose jokes are not at all appreciated by his audience). Signoret is also a memorable gangster's moll in Gunman in the Street (1950, also known as "Gunman at Bay"), shot in English in France, directed by Frank Tuttle, with memorable noir cinematography by Eugen Schufftan) in which Dane Clark plays a deserter/gangster on the run. The two have—shall we say "complicated"—relations with the press in the person of Robert Duke. The movie has a bullet ballet finish. Quai des Orfèvres (literally, the quay of goldsmith's, but referring to the French equivalent of Scotland Yard), a pulp novel adapted and directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot in 1948, has a lot of plot and interesting character development, but takes much too long to get going. IMO, half the first half hour could easily have been cut, but after that, the unglamorous Paris and the very attractive Dora and Marguerite (with the unrequited lesbian passion recognized by Antoine) and the closing in on Maurice are very well presented. (A gang-connected petty thief is blamed for the murder, but the "organized crime" of the movie is not a gang. Perhaps I could include Clouzot's "Diabolique" within this definition of "organized," but I don't really remember whether the murder in it was carefully planned or not.) Another memorable hit man who can't trusted his clients is Leon, the Professional. Luc Besson's hit-man acquires a young admirer/ would-be apprentice in the person of Natalie Portman (who is nothing less than great). The movie is in English with Gary Oldham playing a corrupt police officer. It has very fancy camerawork, but what sticks in my memory is the Portman/Besson relationship. Since I first posted this list, Criterion has made available two great movies in which Lino Ventura played tired gangsters on the run: Claude Sautet's (1960) "Classe sous risques" (which I wrote about at www.associatedcontent.com/article/1199879/a_late_great_french_noir_starring_lino.html?cat=40) also starring a then-unknown Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Jean-Pierre Melville's (1966) "Lex deuxième souffle" ( which I wrote about at www.associatedcontent.com/article/1170668/jeanpierre_melvilles_1966_crime_and.html?cat=40). Neither of those titles is in the epinions database. A third French noir classic that is is "Les doulous" starring Belmondo as a possible police snitch and Serge Reggiani as the gangster on the run and being betrayed by his old comrades after making a prison break. The first film Louis Malle directed "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud" (Elevator to the gallows,1958), has two star-crossed pairs of lovers. The best-laid (highly organized) plans of one pair lead to the same disaster as the entirely gratuitous and ad hoc murders of the other. With a great soundtrack from Miles Davis, the film is also enhanced by superb cinematography by Henri Decaë. (No gang activity is portrayed. I could make an argument that Lacombe, Lucien is part of a gang—the French collaborators empowered by the Nazis, and in the last part he is on the run.) Jules (Frédéric Andréi), the young fan of diva Cynthia Hawkins (Wilhelmenia Fernandez) in "Diva" (1981) is a thief and makes a pirated recording, but is chases by gangsters from Taiwan for having something he doesn't know that he has (a different tape). I like the diva obsession part of the movie more than the chase. The whole film is very stylish. Jean-Paul Belmondo shot to stardom playing a petty gangster (car thief) in Jean-Luc Godard's first film, "À bout de souffle" (Breathless) in 1960. It remains a delight (and includes a cameo by Jean-Pierre Melville and uses Mozart's clarinet concerto long before "American Gigolog" did). It's not clear what crime(s) Jean Gabin is on the run from in Quai des Brumes (Port of Shadows, 1938)—and the pervasive fog of Le Havre extends to some of the subplots IMO. Gabin is holed up in "Le jour se lève" (Daybreak, 1939). He is a gang leader safe as long as he stays in the casbah of Algiers in Pépé le Moko, but longings for Paris (and its embodiment by) draw him to the portside (and death). I prefer the Hollywood remake of this, "Algiers," with the greatest of doomed French lovers, Charles Boyer (Mayerling) as Pépé and Heddy Lamour as the inadvertent siren. A homicidal policeman moved from the West Texas of Jim Thompson to colonial French West Africa and played by Philippe Noiret in Bertrand Tavernier's Coup de Torchon (Clean Slate, 1981) gets away with a number of murders, but the noose tightens around his neck. The movie is highly regarded by many, but I don't much like it. I've made it clear that "Le Samouraï" will top this (sub)list, Having proclaimed "Elevator to the Gallows" perfect, I'd better put it in second place, though I like Le Casque d'or more. I also like À bout de souffle a lot and Diva Thérèse Raquin (and updated version of Zola doom with Signoret) Gunman in the Street Classe tous risques Le deuxième souffle Even though I prefer "Algiers," it repeated Pépé le Moko pretty much shot-by-shot (with a cast I prefer, including Joseph Callelia as the patient pursuer... and this is a French list and casting Boyer does not suffice to make it count) Le quai des Orfèvres Le Doulos I have some difficulty suspending disbelief in Luc Besson's Leon, The Professional (and all other movies in which characters survive more than a thousand shots aimed at them!), which is in English, and Quai des Brumes, Le jour se lève seems a bit pat (though very, very fatalistic) to me, and Le clan (Three Dancing Slaves) to muddled in the gangster parts, but brings the genre into the 21st century And I already reached a list of ten (above the break). Policiers: Chief Inspector Maigret, imagined by Georges Simenon in a hundred or more detective novels, has been portrayed by a number of actors including Charles Laughton (shockingly badly), Jean Gabin (in many films, of which I have seen none), and in the BBC>PBS mysteries starring Michael Gambon (the one I always see in my mind's eye when reading Maigret novels). Few of Maigret's cases involve gangs (most are murders by sexual partners and/or family members), however. There are not a lot of French equivalent to the G-men movies (0r, if they are, they don't cross the Atlantic). Alain Delon has played many gangsters, but also some policeman, , attempting to foil robberies and to catch gang leaders. The best is the last Melville-Delon collaboration, Un flic (1972) in which the criminal mastermind is (surprisingly!) played by Richard Crenna. In Flic Story (1975) Delon also played a real-life policeman Roger Borniche, who (eventually) captured the "public enemy number one" of 1947-50, Émile Buisson, a ruthless killer portrayed by Jean-Louis Trintignant. Delon reprised the role in "Le Gang." Both were directed by Jaques Deray, who lacked the genius of Melville. In common with many of the American noirs, these films have voice-overs at the start and end. Although I might have put it in the group of "on the run" movies, "Nikita" (the English title of which was "La femme Nikita") is a criminal turned into a hit-woman for the government. The training of assassins by the state, as portrayed in Luc Besson's 1990 movie is more methodical than the preparations in hiest movies. Anne Parillaud is sensational in the title role, and Jeanne Moreau is memorable as one of her mentors. This segues easily into the torture practiced by the French police and military during the Algerian rebellion, to Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 "Le Petit Soldat" (which I have been meaning to write about), and Gillo Pontecorvo's masterpiece "The Battle of Algiers" (the film, like Potecorvo, is officially Italian), as well as the Kafkaesque "Monsieur Klein" (1976, in French, starring Delon, directed by Joseph Losey with French police ferreting out —or inventing—Jews for their Nazi overlord (and wealth for themselves). But I don't want to go farther in that direction today. Unseen and therefore unconsidered candidates I haven't seen the futuristic "Banlieue 13" (2004) written by Luc Besson. the 2002 "Cavale" written and direct by Lucas Belvaux, many crime/police movies with Belmondo, Delon, or Gabin. The one I most want to see has Ventura and Gabin in "Razzia sur la Chnouf" (1955, written and directed by Henri Decoin), plus Ventura in "Dernier domicle connu" (1970, written and directed by José Giovanni), Delon in "Comme un boomerang" (1976, cowritten by Delon and Giovanni, directed by Giovanni), Philippe Noiret as another rotten cop, one of "Les Ripoux, 1984, directed by Claude Zidi). ---- This is my parting shot (scatter-shot) in Ifif1938's French find celebration/writeoff. Happy Bastille Day (today)! I have also posted a list of the best American noirs, and the best non-American films by country and of best English organized crime movies. ©2006, Stephen O. Murray  |
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