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1967 neo-noir crime film From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Le Samouraï (French pronunciation: [lə sa.mu.ʁa.i]; lit. 'The Samurai') is a 1967 neo-noir crime thriller film[7] written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, and Cathy Rosier. A Franco-Italian production, it depicts the intersecting paths of a professional hitman (Delon) trying to find out who hired him for a job and then tried to have him killed, and the Parisian commissaire (Périer) trying to catch him.
| Le Samouraï | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jean-Pierre Melville |
| Screenplay by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Henri Decaë |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | François de Roubaix |
Production companies | |
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Release date |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
| Countries |
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| Language | French |
| Box office | 1.9 million admissions (France)[4] $218,495 (US re-release)[5][6] |
The film was released on 25 October 1967, and it sold over 1.9 million tickets in France.[8] It received positive reviews, with particular praise given to Melville's screenwriting and atmospheric direction, and Delon's performance. An English-dubbed version of the film was released in the U.S. in 1972 as The Godson.
Impassive hitman Jef Costello lives in a spartan single-room Paris apartment and keeps a small bird in a cage as a pet. His methodical modus operandi involves creating airtight alibis, including ones provided by his lover, Jane. After carrying out a contract killing on Martey, a nightclub owner, Jef is very clearly seen leaving the scene by the club's piano player, Valérie, and glimpsed by several other witnesses. The police bring Jef and other suspects in for a lineup, but the witnesses, including Valerie, fail to positively identify him.
Jef is released, but the commissaire suspects him and has him followed. Jef loses the tail and goes to collect his fee for the hit. Instead of paying him, the man he meets tries to kill him, shooting him in the arm. Jef realizes his unknown employers now view him as a liability because he is suspected in Martey's murder. After treating his wound, Jef returns to the nightclub. While he is out, two police officers bug his room, agitating the bird in its cage.
After the nightclub closes, Jef has Valérie take him to her home, reasoning that she did not identify him as the killer because his employer had told her not to. He asks her who hired him, and she tells him to call her in two hours. Meanwhile, the police search Jane's apartment and offer to leave her alone if she recants her alibi for Jef. She flatly rejects the offer.
Back at his apartment, Jef notices some loose feathers scattered around his bird's cage and suspects it was agitated by an intrusion. He finds the police bug and deactivates it, and then goes to a public phone to call Valérie, but she does not answer. When he returns home, he is ambushed by the man who shot him. Holding Jef at gunpoint, the man offers a fresh start. He pays Jef for the hit on Martey, as well as for an upcoming one. Jef overpowers the man and forces him to disclose the identity of his boss: Olivier Rey.
Dozens of undercover police attempt to tail Jef in the Paris Métro, but he evades them. He visits Jane and assures her everything will work out, then drives to Rey's house, which is also where Valérie lives, though she is not home. Jef kills Rey and returns to the nightclub, this time making no attempt to avoid being seen. He checks his hat, but leaves his hat-check ticket on the counter, and puts on white gloves, which he wears when carrying out his hits, in full view of everyone. He approaches the stage where Valérie is performing. She quietly advises him to leave, but he points his gun at her. Strangely unafraid, she asks him why he is doing this, and he responds he was paid to do so. Suddenly, Jef is shot four times by policemen who had been waiting for him. When the Commissaire inspects Jef's gun, however, he discovers it was not loaded.
Melville wrote the film for Delon.[9] It was the first film for Delon's wife, Nathalie. He filed for divorce after the film wrapped, but they terminated the divorce proceedings a few days later, though they separated in June 1968 and their divorce became official in February 1969, with Nathalie being granted custody of their son, Anthony.[10] François Périer, who played the Commissaire, was a comedian cast against type.
Studios Jenner, Melville's private film studio, was destroyed by a fire on June 29, 1967, while Le Samouraï was in production. Melville, who termed the blaze "suspicious", finished the shoot at another studio.[11]
In an interview with Rui Nogueira, Melville said he originally filmed Jef Costello meeting his death with a picture-perfect grin, but he modified the scene after discovering Delon had a smiling death scene in another of his films. Production stills of the smiling death exist.
Le Samouraï was released in France on 25 October 1967. It sold over 1.9 million tickets in France, and over 797,011 tickets in Spain.[8] First released in theaters in the United States in 1972, it grossed $39,481 from a 1997 re-release.[5]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 100% approval rating based on 38 reviews, and an average score of 8.6/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "Le Samouraï makes the most of its spare aesthetic, using stylish – and influential – direction, solid performances, and thick atmosphere to weave an absorbing story."[12]
A 1967 review in Variety called the film "a curious hybrid" that "appears a bit too solemn to inject all the suspense, action and characterization [Melville] seeks", and said it "almost seems to be an American film dubbed into French" and "could be cut a bit".[13]
Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the original film "immaculate", but criticized the dubbing of the 1972 version released in the U.S. as The Godson as "disorienting" and "dreadful".[14]
In a 1997 review of the film that later appeared in his first The Great Movies collection of essays, Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, writing: "Like a painter or a musician, a filmmaker can suggest complete mastery with just a few strokes. Jean-Pierre Melville involves us in the spell of Le Samourai (1967) before a word is spoken. He does it with light: a cold light, like dawn on an ugly day. And color: grays and blues. And actions that speak in place of words."[15]
In 2010, the film was ranked No. 39 on Empire's list of "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema".[16]
Writing in Le Figaro of the Delons' performances after Nathalie's death in 2021, Bertrand Guyard noted that the husband and wife are both nearly silent in the film, but "their gazes, fraught with meaning, are enough to make the camera quiver", and the director was able to create from their portrayals "a mythical couple of the seventh art."[17]
The film has influenced numerous other works and directors:
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