Le Samorai

T

TaylorTRoom

1,000+ Posts
Since this is a 40 years old French movie, I'm going to assume I don't need to warn anybody about spoilers. Either you've seen it, or you haven't. You're not going to stumble into it at the multiplex because you arrived too late for The Other Boleyn Girl, or something.

I had read a very good review of it on Ebert's Great Movies page. The director is Melville, who I gather is not as artsy as a lot of French directors. True to his nationality, though, he is very big on style.

The movie is about a hit man, played by Alain Delon. He has an assignment, sets up an alibi, does the job (but leaves witnesses), and needs for his alibi to hold up. There are a couple of double crosses, and moments when he is not sure he should have trusted people. The movie is not really plot-driven, and not really character driven (they're all archetypes).

It's called "Le Samorai" because the hit man, Jeff Costello, has a very rigid code he lives by- he will kill some people, but not others, even when it may endanger him. This is a part of the movie I puzzled over until I read in the little Criterion Collection book (comes with the DVD) that Melville saw the character as having serious emotional/mental issues which are clouded by his stoic behavior.

The movie looks great. It was made 40 years ago, but the actors and actresses have looks that would not seem dated if you ran into them at a hip club today.

I really enjoyed this. I'm going to check out another Melville, for sure- either "Army of Shadows", "Le Cercle Rouge", or "Bob Le Flambeur", plus probably "Rififi". Any tips or suggestions?
 
I skipped through the potential spoilers. I remember this film coming around and missing it. Thanks for the reminder and the recommendation.
 
Great film. The Criterion version is excellent. Jarmusch's Ghost Dog was largely based on Le Samourai and is also very good.
 
I would say go army of shadows, which was released on criterion not too long ago, and is great (and probably my second favorite melville, with le samourai being first), then bob le flambeur (it was remade into The Good Thief with this guy in 2002, but haven't seen it).

Also, I would also recommend a non-melville film (but also french) called 13 Tzameti. Saw it last year and thought it had a similar disjointed feel.

damn I love movies.
 
I'm going to have to watch the end again (don't worry; it's a good viewing experience even if there is a little amibguity) to see the discussion between Jeff and the guy in the office in the penultimate scene. Was he the guy who commissioned the hit? Was he the lover of the pianist? Did Costello determine that he was doomed?
 
just noticed this:

if you're in austin, bob le flambeur is playing at the union tonight.

not sure if they just use dvds, or have actual prints, but could be worth checking out.
 
As I reflect on it, this movie shows a different direction films can go. In a summer action blockbuster, the whole Costello story would be a sub-plot, wrapped up in the 3rd act before the real finish. Here, it's the whole movie. Melville doesn't tell you the backstory, or why people do what they do; it's just who they are. He lets the audience come to him, instead of forcing the story.

This type of film-making reminds me of this passage from "The Last Tycoon", where the Hollywood producer Stahr (think Selznick) is explaining to the dismissive big-time novelist Boxley, who can't bring himself to engage in anything as tawdry as script-writing (think Faulkner)-

“Suppose you’re in your office. . . . A pretty stenographer you’ve seen before comes into the room and you watch her. . . . She takes off her gloves, opens her purse and dumps it out on the table. . . . She has two dimes and a nickel—and a cardboard match box. She leaves the nickel on the desk, puts the two dimes back into her purse and takes her black gloves to the stove. . . . Just then your telephone rings. The girl picks it up, says hello—listens—and says deliberately into the phone, “I’ve never owned a pair of black gloves in my life.” She hangs up . . . and you glance around very suddenly and see another man in the office, watching every move the girl makes. . . .”

“Go on,” said Boxley smiling. “What happens?”

“I don’t know,” said Stahr. “I was just making pictures.”

—The Last Tycoon

F. Scott Fitzgerald
 
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