Review of Le Samouraï (1967) by Stephen C — 13 Feb 2013
If you want to study the works of master director Jean Pierre Mellville,then this is his crowning glory a European noir with an icy spare quality which lingers long after you view the film.
Alain Delon is superb as Jef Costello a Burberry mac and Fedora waering hitman who lives in a bare apartment with just a bird for company and packs of Gauloises and bottles of Mineral water on top of his empty wardrobe.
Costello is a contract killer who has no friends and keeps everything at arms length until his latest contract goes awry when a beautiful female pianist,see's him leave the secne of his latest crime.
The police are convinced they have the right man but the girl refuses to identify him leading to police resorting to desperate maesures to track down Costello.
On top of the police Costello has to content with his employers who want him dead for fouling up and will use any methods to track him down.
The film works because Melville takes the classic Film Noir cliches and distills them down to there bare bones allowing image rather than reams of dialogue tell the story.
Its easy to see why directors have paid tribute to Mellville including Walter Hill with his 1978 classic The Driver and John Woo with his demented homage The Killer.
The film is astounding and if you want to know why Mellville still matters then catch this classic .
This review of Le Samouraï (1967) was written by Stephen C on 13 Feb 2013.
Le Samouraï has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
