Cheap Le Samourai (DVD) (Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon) (Jean-Pierre Melville) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Le Samourai

Beautiful, Brilliant, Breathtaking!
There are very few movies in the history of the cinema that are as perfect as Jean-Pierre Melville's "Le Samourai". "Le Samourai" is without question my favorite movie of all-time, and one of the best ever made. It's a movie that isn't widely seen, and is never shown on TV, however, it has had a tremendous influence and inspiration for many filmmakers ever since. "Le Samourai" itself was inspired by the film noirs of the 40s and 50s, especially "This Gun for Hire"(1942) which includes a performance by Alan Ladd as a similar loner hired killer character as Alain Delon's (Jef Costello). I love this movie for too many reasons to mention. First of all, the direction by Melville, the beautifully dark cinematography by Henri Decae, the writing, the editing, etc. Also, the performances are all great especially Alain Delon, who gives the performance of a lifetime, it's absolutely one of the greatest performances ever captured on film. There are too many beautiful moments in the movie to mention, and I won't mention them as to not ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen the movie. One moment in particular is stunning when Delon, who plays a hired killer (Jef Costello), nurses a gun-shot wound to his arm, there's not a false moment in the entire movie. Another is after he steals a car as he drives he stops for a moment as another car with a woman in it stops next to his car and they both turn briefly to look at each other, it's done with a subtle, flawless, breathtaking beauty rarely captured on film. I own a VHS copy of "Le Samourai" which I have almost completely worn out, so I hope that Criterion or some merciful DVD company out there produces a quality DVD of this important masterpiece as soon as possible. I would like to think that amongst the "Gladiators", "Independence Day" and "American Pie" DVDs, they could include a quality DVD of "Le Samourai" for the sake of humble DVD consumers who love great movies. In all, I have to say that I need to watch this movie repeated times so I can enjoy it and be inspired, as well as to remind myself that movies can be important and meaningful. When I see all of the garbage that is shoved out onto movie screens nowadays, it's downright depressing and sometimes demoralizing, so it's nice to be able to put on "Le Samourai", or another great movie of the past, and remember what movies could be and should be!

---

Bushido Lite
This film has the indelible reputation of being a classic French film Noir; as being the inspiration for John Woo's THE KILLER, and Jim Jarmusch's GHOST DOG, and certainly influenced Jean Reno in THE PROFESSIONAL. It, in turn, was most certainly influenced by Alan Ladd's premiere role as "Raven" in THIS GUN FOR HIRE. Director Jean-Pierre Melville was a veteran of several French crime films. This one was easily his best. He died six years later. It was released in America in 1972 under the title, THE GODSON.

This is a very dark tale of a meticulous assassin living very secluded and alone in a rundown apartment house; inconspicuous, hiding in plain sight, a Spartan existance, a monk's simplicity and pure dedication to vocational choice. There is only one spark of life in the greyness of his domicile...a small bird in a dirty cage. This is a color film, but most of it is shot in deep shadows, and at night; all gray and black imagery. And in that sense, it does have a real Noir feel to it.

This film has been so well received, and is held in such high esteem, somehow I, as a first time viewer, expected more from it. The lexicon of assassin crime films is lengthy, so one longed to see something new, fresh, and original; something connected to samurai or yakuza roots. There was the establishment of a pervading sense of doom, of fatalistic events, as we watched Alain Delon as Jef Costello maneuvering himself into tragedy.

But for me, the primary weakness of this film was Delon himself. His matinee good looks, his Bogart-like raincoat, his smooth short brimmed fedora, his strained attempts at coolness...all seemed wrong, and off-center. I needed to see toughness, not the stiffness and effeminate posing. I needed to see Yves Montand or Gerard Depardieu as Costello. Someone with a lived-in face, deeply lined and chiseled, and life's weariness in his sagging shoulders, and real violence springing from a killer's sinews...not the awkward shuffling of Delon's pretend gangster. I needed to see the propensity for inflicting pain behind his eyes, terrible anger predicated on a misspent life. Death. Death in his eyes, countless killings from that moment spread clear to the horizon, too many to count, the loss of even the need to count; the coldness of a professional mechanic, the icy blank stare of a zero guilt psychopath. I think I wanted to see Costello sitting around in a dirty t-shirt cleaning his weapons lovingly, like Bruce Willis in THE LAST MAN STANDING, or Christopher Walken in THE DOGS OF WAR. I longed to witness the bushido connection to Costello...but instead with Delon one received a vacuous state of disbelief. There was no whisper of Kurasawa, no Mifune stare, no Nakadai burst of lethal violence...there was just handsome Alain Delon posing for posters, standing stiffly in shadows, and prancing in and out of stolen Citroens.

Nathalie Delon as Jane LeGrange had some good moments. Married to Alain Delon, this was her film debut. Her scene with the wily police superintendent, played by Roger Fradet, was very good. Her characters inherent toughness, this beautiful woman caught up in the greasy world of call girls and gangsters, mere inches from descent into prostitution, came through clearly; also what appeared to be geniune affection for the rake Costello. Fradet, as the Chief Inspector, was appropriately driven, prissy, and likewise meticulous; creating an excellent counterpoint to Costello. Cathy Rosier, as Valerie the jazz pianist, hit all the right notes; kind of a black French Keely Smith. Her decision not to finger Costello, whom she clearly recognized, seemed to imply her deeper involvement in the complexity of the murderous plot.

This film has been called," beautiful, sad, and very very cool,"..le crime hot, I guess. In this genre, the music itself was a bit pedestrian. It needed some Quincy Jones score to punctuate the action. There were a lovely bunch of triple crosses and plot twists. But it was never clear if Valerie's name was on Costello's second contract. When Costello returned to her apartment in search of her, and he encountered the mid-level boss, and eliminated him in reprisal...was this a random act, or the first faltering steps he was taking on his walk to doom? Watching the bird in the cage at Costello's rathole, molting and dying, seemed an effective visual symbol, keying us to the killer's plight.

One other problem for me was the gendarmes seemed to be able to dog Costello's tracks, bug his apartment, and monitor his movements a little too easily. This was supposed to be a tale of a hardened killer, a professional who thrived on danger. It was a bit too easy to snare him. Did Costello know that he was walking into a trap at the nightclub? Perhaps. He did unload his pistol before strolling in. Was his life, his very existence, so without meaning that he would throw it away without exacting the full measure of punishment on his betrayers? Perhaps. In the film's final flickers, we know we have seen a classic. It is only too bad that it had an empty ineffective heart in its chest.

---

a brilliant film
Cool, austere and haunting - this is the real deal - a genuine French masterpiece.