Le Samouraï (1967) Le samouraï (original title)

Director:

Jean-Pierre Melville

Writers:

Jean-Pierre Melville
Georges Pellegrin
(more)

Release Date:

25 October 1967 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

De kaldte ham Samoraien - den ensomme morder

Plot:

Things suddenly go badly for a successful French assassin.

Plot Keywords:

French | Murder | Assassin | Alibi | Hitman

Cast

Alain Delon	...	Jef Costello
François Périer	...	The Superintendant
Nathalie Delon	...	Jane Lagrange
Cathy Rosier	...	Valérie, la pianiste (as Caty Rosier)
Jacques Leroy	...	Gunman
Michel Boisrond	...	Wiener
Robert Favart	...	Barkeeper
Jean-Pierre Posier	...	Olivier Rey
Catherine Jourdan	...	Hatcheck Girl
Roger Fradet	...	1st inspector
Carlo Nell	...	2nd inspector
Robert Rondo	...	3d inspector
André Salgues	...	Garage keeper
André Thorent	...	Policeman / cab driver
Jacques Deschamps	...	Policeman
Georges Casati	...	Damolini
Jacques Léonard	...	Garcia (as Jack Léonard)
Pierre Vaudier	...	Policeman
Maurice Magalon	...	Policeman
Gaston Meunier	...	Hotel manager
Jean Gold	...	1st client in nightclub
Georges Billy	...	2nd client in nightclub
Ari Aricardi	...	Poker player
Guy Bonnafoux	...	Poker player (as Bonnafoux)
Humberto Catalano	...	Police inspector (as Catalano)
Carl Lechner	...	Sosie Jef
Maria Maneva	...	Little Girl

Directed by
Jean-Pierre Melville

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Joan McLeod		novel "The Ronin" (uncredited)
Jean-Pierre Melville
Georges Pellegrin

Produced by
Raymond Borderie	....	producer
Eugène Lépicier	....	producer

Original Music by
François de Roubaix

Cinematography by
Henri Decaë		(as Henri Decae)

Film Editing by
Monique Bonnot
Yolande Maurette		(as Yo Maurette)

Production Design by
François de Lamothe		(as François De Lamothe)

Set Decoration by
François de Lamothe		(as François De Lamothe)

Production Management
Georges Casati	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Georges Pellegrin	....	assistant director

Art Department
André Boumedil	....	property master
Robert Christidès	....	set dresser (as Robert Christides)
Théobald Meurisse	....	assistant set decorator (as Theobald Meurisse)
Angelo Rizzi	....	props
Philippe Turlure	....	assistant set decorator

Sound Department
Pierre Davoust	....	assistant sound
René Longuet	....	sound engineer
Robert Pouret	....	sound editor
Alex Pront	....	sound director

Camera and Electrical Department
Jean Charvein	....	camera operator: studio
Jean-Paul Cornu	....	second assistant camera
Henri Decaë	....	camera operator: locations (as Henri Decae)
François Lauliac	....	first assistant camera

Editorial Department
Geneviève Adam	....	assistant editor
Madeleine Bagiau	....	assistant editor
Madeleine Guérin	....	assistant editor
Geneviève Letellier	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Robert Beaulieu	....	furrier
Betty Elvira	....	script girl
Jean Pieuchot	....	general manager

Production Companies

• Compagnie Industrielle et Commerciale Cinématographique (CICC)
• Fida Cinematografica
• Filmel
• TC Productions

Distributors

• S.N. Prodis (1967) (France) (theatrical)
• Artists International (1972) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Gloria Filmverleih AG (1968) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Luna Vídeo (Brazil) (video)
• New Yorker Films (video)

Other Companies

• Chevereau  camera equipment provided by

Also Known As:

"Le samouraï" - France (original title)
"The Godson" - USA (dubbed version)

Runtime:

105 min | USA:101 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:16 | Singapore:PG | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (TV rating) | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

11 Boulevard de l'Amiral Bruix, Paris 16, Paris, France

Company:

Compagnie Industrielle et Commerciale Cinématographique (CICC)

Trivia:

The start of the film is completely dialog-free for almost ten minutes. The first word, "Jef?" spoken by Jane Lagrange (Nathalie Delon), comes at the 9:58 mark.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: (at around 40 mins) Jef exits a taxi in the pouring rain, but a clear blue sky can be seen reflected in a foreground car hood and bright sunlight on background buildings.

Quotes:

Jeff Costello:Why say you did not recognize me?
Valérie:Why kill Marty?
Jeff Costello:I was to be paid.
Valérie:What had he done to you?
Jeff Costello:Not a thing. I didn't know him. I met him for the first and last time 24 hours ago.
[pause]
Valérie:What sort of man are you?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (1999)

An ultra stylized icon of urban cool

Melville's masterpiece about a contract killer, a modern day samuraï. He makes brilliant use of the city he loved so much, Paris. The feel, the sounds, the streets, the noise, it's all hauntingly cold and distant but at the same time he makes Paris seem like the coolest city in the world.

In the beginning of the film Melville uses a beautiful static shot of over 4 minutes to establish the audience with a seemingly empty room, then we see smoke circling upwards. There must be someone in the room but it's practically impossible to determine where the smoke is coming from. Finally Jeff Costello gets up from his bed, which wasn't recognizable as such in the first place, and appears on screen. The whole set-up is more reminiscent of a moving replica of a painting by the surrealist Paul Delvaux than anything else in modern cinema. Another surreal set piece is when after his first hit, all possible suspects are brought in at a police station, including Delon himself. Not one by one but all of 'em at the same time. In the next scene we see at least a hundred "gangsters", all wearing trench coats and hats, in a large hall, where they will be interrogated "en plein public". Genuinely strange procedures but handled with such care and stylishness that it becomes completely believable. It gives the somewhat humorous suggestion that the streets of Paris are populated by hundreds, even thousands, of trenchcoat-wearing gangsters, all loners, only seeing each other at card games and occasions like this.

Alain Delon is the perfect embodiment of gangster coolness in this career-defining role as a hit-man in Paris, a modern-day samuraï. "Le Gangster", as the French lovingly call them. Off course, these gangsters don't exist anymore and they probably never existed at all. French Gangsters must have been redefining their look after seeing Delon in this film. His association in real life with French criminal circles, in particular the Marseille underworld, has always given his performances a very strange aura.

As a kid, I regularly visited my grandmother who lived near the city of Marseille and on French television I saw lots of French gangster movies (well, my parents let me watch with them). Alain Delon was in quite a few of them. When I grew older and could identify most of the French screen legends, Delon as no other came to represent the ultimate gangster. An stylized icon of urban cool. I'm also convinced that his character Jef Costello in Le Samouraï was the inspiration for the hissing and whispering fellow in the trench coat in Sesame Street (did he have a name?), something like a gangster, a criminal. A mysterious strange man you should avoid as a kid. I'll be damned if I'm wrong, but I still see Alain Delon in Sesame Street!