Farewell, Friend (1968) Adieu l'ami (original title)

Director:

Jean Herman

Writers:

Jean Herman (screenplay)
Sébastien Japrisot (dialogue)
(more)

Release Date:

8 August 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

After serving together in the French Foreign Legion, a mercenary and a doctor leave the service and go their separate ways...

Plot Keywords:

Safe | Doctor | Mercenary | Bearer Bonds | Shot By The Police

Cast

Alain Delon	...	Dino Barran
Charles Bronson	...	Franz Propp
Olga Georges-Picot	...	Isabelle Moreau
Brigitte Fossey	...	Dominique 'Waterloo' Austerlitz
Bernard Fresson	...	Insp. Antoine Méloutis
Marianna Falk	...	Catherine
Ellen Bahl	...	Martha
Jean-Claude Ballard	...	A police inspector
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michel Barcet	...	Insp. Muratti
Antoine Baud
Stéphane Bouy	...	Man from Neuilly
Béatrice Costantini	...	Young patient (as Béatrice Constantini)
Guy Delorme	...	Man from Neuilly
André Dumas	...	Personnel director
Steve Eckardt	...	Big man (as Steve Eckhardt)
Marie-Noëlle Gresset
Raoul Guylad	...	Insp. Gorik
Lisette Lebon	...	Gilberte
Sylvain Levignac	...	A passerby at Saint Lazare
Jacques Marbeuf	...	Parachutist
Claude Salez	...	Parachutist
Sandrine Schmidt
Gilbert Servien	...	A police inspector
Catherine Sola	...	Nurse
Jean-Paul Tribout	...	A police inspector

Directed by
Jean Herman

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jean Herman		screenplay
Sébastien Japrisot		dialogue
Sébastien Japrisot		screenplay
Sébastien Japrisot		story

Produced by
Serge Silberman	....	producer

Original Music by
François de Roubaix

Cinematography by
Jean-Jacques Tarbès

Film Editing by
Hélène Plemiannikov

Production Design by
Jacques Dugied

Costume Design by
Tanine Autré

Production Management
Willy Pickardt	....	production director

Sound Department
Jean Labussière	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Vincent Rossell	....	still photographer

Production Companies

• Greenwich Film Productions
• Medusa Produzione

Distributors

• Cinerama Filmgesellschaft MBH (1969) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Indipendenti Regionali (1971) (Italy) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Medusa Distribuzione (1968) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1976) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• EuroVideo (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2008) (United Arab Emirates) (DVD) (Middle East)
• Gativideo (2008) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Lionsgate Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Monterey Home Video (1984) (USA) (VHS)
• Wild East Productions (2011) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Adieu l'ami" - France (original title)
"Honor Among Thieves" - USA (reissue title)

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:18 | West Germany:16 (nf) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | UK:15

Company:

Greenwich Film Productions

Trivia:

Alain Delon, like many French, had admired Machine-Gun Kelly (1958), one of the first Bronson's starring vehicles, and he invited Bronson to co-star with him in "Adieu, L'Ami".

Quotes:

Dino Barran:Give me your word.
Franz Propp:I ain't got one.
Dino Barran:Give it to me anyway.
Franz Propp:Very well friend.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Big Sleaze (2010)

Honour among thieves

Farewell Friend aka Adieu L'Ami/Honour Among Thieves isn't perfect but it is a neat and entertaining thriller that sees mismatched demobbed French Algerian War veterans Alain Delon and Charles Bronson trapped in the same basement vault, one to return stolen bonds, the other to clean out the two million in wages sitting there over the Christmas weekend. Naturally things aren't quite that simple even after they open the vault, leading to some neat twists and turns. On the debit side, there's a very bizarre striptease scene in a car park, Bronson has a very irritating Fonzie-like catchphrase he uses at the most inopportune moments, Brigitte Fossey, sporting perhaps the most hideously misconceived hairstyle of the 60s (it makes her look like a bald woman whose wig is blown back off the top of her head by a high wind), is something of a liability – her "I'll cook spaghetti! I'll learn to make love well! I'll read Shakespeare!" speech is hysterical in all the wrong ways – and it's a shame about the horrible last line/shot, but otherwise this is a surprisingly entertaining and unpretentious number that's worth checking out if you can find a decent print.

Cinema Club's UK DVD only offers the English soundtrack, but since Delon voices himself and the rest of the cast are fairly well dubbed that's no great problem, especially since the widescreen transfer is pretty good quality.