Review of Police Python 357 (1976) by Trent R — 23 Mar 2011

If unfamiliar with Corneau, do not be fooled by the title into thinking that this is some watered-down Dirty Harry imitation. It is an excellent Policier which owes more to Film Noir than `70s action, despite the title and bullet-strewn finale. Montand plays an older police inspector as a creature of habit, and the opening bullet fabrication montage is one of the best of that period. Alarm clocks and phones are used as both transitional and foreshadowing devices to demonstrate his obsessive character and trained response in contrast to that of his chief and enemy.

But it is Montand's wife Simone Signoret who is the real intellectual rival, and her reaction after her husband confesses to the murder of his lover is remarkably telling but human. So, we have a wrongfully accused Montand being framed by his superior for the murder of the lover they unknowingly shared - while Montand's real-life wife Signoret plays the wife of the rival engineering his demise.

But it is a solid third of the way into the film before any killing occurs, and it is the attention to pace, character, and setting that establishes this as more than a typical genre entry. The odd locations were Corneau's hometown, so we get a nice mix of old homes and gorgeous canals, but also modern office buildings - and a pedestrian grocery store featured to excellent contrasting effect. Like in Corneau's Jim Thompson adaptation, SÃ (C)rie noire, pop culture and consumerism provide an inelegant backdrop to violence. There is an excellent PAL dvd from the Netherlands, with English subs.