Review of Le Samouraï (1967) by Olaolu A — 19 Apr 2011
An ultra stylish excursion into film noir that deserves recognition as a gold standard in the genre. This may have come out more that 4 decades ago but it can easily stand toe-to-toe with the best modern day crime dramas.
It should be noted that none other than John Woo has lauded this as a "perfect film" (in fact, one of his own films, the considerably more action-oriented melodrama, The Killer, was loosely based on this) and it's easy to agree with him once you've immersed yourself in this masterful thriller from legendary director Jean-Pierre Melville.
In fact, Woo isn't the only director to draw inspiration from Le Samourai; it's pretty clear that Quentin Tarantino and Melville's fellow countryman, Luc Besson, are intimately familiar with this landmark thriller (in particular, try watching Besson's masterpiece, The Professional, without thinking about this film).
More to come later...
This review of Le Samouraï (1967) was written by Olaolu A on 19 Apr 2011.
Le Samouraï has generally received very positive reviews.
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