Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

The movie that I wanted to see was the pairing of Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo in "Borsalino" (1970). I thought that "Borsalino and Company"(1974) was a different title (or wasn't paying much attention when I put the latter in my NetFlix queue). If I'd looked closer, I'd have seen that it was a sequel made by the same director (Jaques Deray), lensed by the same cinematographer (Jean-Jaques Tarbès), produced and directed by Delon.

The movie opens with a still of Belmondo, but when the camera pulls back, this photo is revealed to be part of a flower-drenched funeral. The chief mourner is a grim-faced Roch Siffredi (Delon) with a very severe part in heavily gelled hair.

I was hoping that the movie was going to go three months back and incorporate Belmondo, but, instead, it jumped three months forward. The very tailored Siffredi—still with a razor-sharp part— is opening a night club. It was already clear that he was a gangster in the funeral scene, and it soon is obvious that one source of his income is from a bordello, run by Lola (Catherine Rouvel—who does quite a lot with a relatively small part).

Siffredi avenges his best friend (Belmondo's character's name in the earlier movie was François Capella) by killing one Volpone (Riccardo Cucciolla plays them both; he played Nicola Sacco in "Sacco and Vanzetti"). The surviving brother goes to war. He succeeds in part because the police commissioner who stands back and lets gangsters slaughter each other and considers his job to keep score rather than to intervene (Daniel Ivernel), is replaced by one in Volpone's pocket (André Falcon).

There is a lot of mayhem and an insidious fate for Siffredi. (His hair even gets mussed, and he looks forlorn in a patented Alain Delon way.)

The plot seems like a bang-bang 1930s Warner Brothers movie with more graphic gunplay and shot in color. There is, however, a political angle that I don't think I can discuss without being guilty of plot spoiling.

Delon was 40 in 1975 with wrinkles on his forehead—no longer the incredibly stunning youth how played Rocco (in "Rocco and His Brothers") and Tom Ripley (in "Plein Soleil"). Nevertheless, he looked great in a tuxedo, and no one that I can recall ever looked better in a fedora than Delon (and not just because it covered his wrinkled forehead). He appears in a black one, a white one, and a gray one, and looks ultra-cool in all of them. Indeed, some think that (like Steve McQueen, also fabled for being cool) Delon was so cool he was frozen. It is true that his facial expressions in this role (and many other ones, but not all!) were limited, but, as I have maintained more than once before (particularly in regard to another once-outright-beautiful actor, Gary Cooper), it is the eyes that count most in screen acting. Delon showed anger, anguish, and much of the rest of the alphabet with his eyes.

The vintage cars and costumes are a pleasure to behold. As in "The Sting," there is also representation of 1930s train travel. I'm a sucker for that (not least as I find flying more and more unpleasant...) and think that rolling stock is very photogenic.

"Borsalino and Company" is not a great movie. It is a handsome throwback that can provide pleasure to those who enjoy gangster movies and/or gazing at a middle-aged Alain Delon. But it has none of the psychological complexity of "The Sopranos." (As I've written multiple times, exploring motivation is un-French.)

The DVDs in "the Alain Delon collection" all have trailers for all ten movies in it and fimographies, and no other bonus features.

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This is a(nother) contribution to Ifif1938's French find celebration/writeoff.


©2006, Stephen O. Murray




Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age