Review of Le Samouraï (1967) by Jesse P — 01 Jul 2011

He follows the way of the Samurai and that makes him a Lone Wolf... My first viewing was okay this was pretty good not as great as what they have been saying, My second viewing one of my favourite movies ever. I will admit the reason my first viewing wasn't that good was because the film was very confusing in nature about what the hell was going on... Mostly the dialogue was this factor.

It truly is the most influential and best French film I have ever seen easy and how much it contributes to the Crime genre.

Hitman Jef Costello is a perfectionist who always carefully plans his murders and who never gets caught. One night however, after killing a night-club owner, he's seen by witnesses. His efforts to provide himself with an alibi fail and more and more he gets driven into a corner.

Be warned you first viewing wont impress you I can certify that it just takes more than one watch before you can see the technics and fully understand what's going on? Still the story is pretty much flawless... It's like a Modern day Samurai picture but it more modernized no blades just your weapon at hand... Still call him Lone Wolf of the 60s but with a sword.

The acting is awesome I haven't seen a finer performances with the way its filmed and the type of genre it goes into. The music is pretty good and anything else I can really say?

Here are some facts I found.

The start of the film is completely dialog-free for almost ten minutes. The first word, "Jef?" spoken by Jane Lagrange (Nathalie Delon), comes at the 9:58 mark.

When director Jean-Pierre Melville brought a copy of the script to Alain Delon, Delon asked him what the title was. When he was told the title was Le Samourai, Delon had Melville follow him to his bedroom, where there was only a leather couch and a samurai blade hanging on the wall.

Melville worried how he was going to shoot the scene where Jef drives the stolen car right into the scrap garage. Without missing a beat, Delon drove the car down the narrow alley and into the garage in one shot.

According to Rui Nogueira (author of the book "Melville on Melville" published in 1976), the caged bird shown as Jef Costello's pet in "Le Samourai" was the only casualty of the fire that destroyed Melville's studio in 1967.

One of my favourite movies is it recommended? Totally...