Review of Le Samouraï (1967) by Aaron S — 05 Sep 2009

Made in 1967, before Martin Scorsese or even Francis Ford Coppola came into the crime drama film scene, Jean-Pierre Melville made this French film. The film follows Jef Costello (Alain Delon), a hitman who lives alone with his bird, and has a woman wrapped around his finger.

The film opens with a wonderful shot of Delon lying on his bed in his small, minimalist apartment, smoking a cigarette, his bird chirping in the background. After awhile, we see him gather some things, and get ready to leave, putting on his hat.

His hat. Whenever he leaves his apartment, he puts on his hat and swipes the brim. Every time. Weather he is on his way to kill someone, running away, or even when he knowingly has an assassin in his apartment. I'm not sure of the significance of this, but it gives you a sense that Delon's character has a method to what he does.

Delon's character makes such a good and believable hitman, because he knows how to set up incredible alibi's, and he makes sure to be clean whilst on the job.

The first twenty minutes or so of this movie focus on Jef Costello doing a job, and showing how he does that job, but this is not the part of the movie that makes it memorable. Shortly after the job, he is taken into custody. Somehow, he remains out of the grasp of the Police Superintendent (François Périer).

After his run in with the law, he tries to meet with a messenger to pick up his money for the job, where an attempted assassination is played out on Costello's head.

For fear of ruining the plot to any readers, I'll stop with it there.

This movie is worth at least one viewing, and don't let the fact that it is in French stop you. Try to at least rent it, seeing as there is a Criterion Collection DVD out of it, it shouldn't be impossible to find. So give it a go.

In conclusion, this isn't the best crime drama you'll see in your life, but it is at least worth a viewing if you're a fan of the genre.