Review of Two Men in Town (1973) by Walter M — 24 Jun 2010

In "Two Men in Town," Germain(Jean Gabin), an educator who volunteers for the parole board in a prison, puts his reputation on the line in writing when he states that Gino Strabliggi(Alain Delon, who also produced) is reformed after ten years in prison and deserves to be released two years early. Over strenuous objections, he gets his wish and Gino is as good as his word, as he is reunited with his dutiful wife Sophie(Ilaria Occhini) and gets a job as a printer. Even when his old cohort Marcel(Victor Lanoux) comes to pay a visit, he is not even tempted. Things do not go as well for Germain as he stops working at the prison after a prisoner's suicide and riot and moves to Montpelier to work with delinquents.

"Two Men in Town" has some important things to advocate on the subject of prisoners deserving humane treatment, reform, not punishment, and the benefit of the doubt, no matter what they may have done in the past. All of which is too touchy a subject for any politician to take up as a cause. Otherwise, the movie is fairly routine but does play with a genre convention or two. Most of its allure comes from the movie's star power, especially an early confrontational scene between Alain Delon and Gerard Depardieu, that in retrospect could be seen as something of a changing of the guard.