Le Rapace (1968)

Vera Cruz, 1938. "Le Rital", a tough French hit man, agrees to serve Mexican revolutionaries who want to replace the current President by Chico, an insecure young bourgeois that they intend... See full summary »

Director:

José Giovanni

Writers:

John Carrick (novel), José Giovanni (adaptation)

Stars:

Lino Ventura, Rosa Furman, Aurora Clavel

Cast

Cast overview:
Lino Ventura	...	Le rapace / Le rital
Rosa Furman	...	Camito
Aurora Clavel	...	Aurora
Enrique Lucero	...	El Bosco
Carlos López Figueroa	...	Ruiz (as Carlos Lopez Figueroa)
Augusto Benedico	...	Maitre Calvez
René Barrera
Farnesio de Bernal	...	Le président (as Farnecio de Bernal)
Marco Antonio Arzate
Xavier Marc	...	Miguel Juarez - dit 'Chico'

Storyline

Vera Cruz, 1938. "Le Rital", a tough French hit man, agrees to serve Mexican revolutionaries who want to replace the current President by Chico, an insecure young bourgeois that they intend to manipulate. The killing of the President is to take place in a small town whose "great lady", Camito, is an alluring former thespian and the despot's mistress. Things go according to plan as the President commits the imprudence to come and see Camito without his escort. "Le Rital" just has to pull the trigger and his mission is achieved. But to no avail actually as the revolutionaries prove unable to take advantage of the situation. Worse, "Le Rital" finds himself driven to shoot at Chico(without killing him though) whereas he has become close to him. In the end he leaves Mexico for new adventures without anybody knowing that deep inside himself he is a broken man.

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Plot Keywords:

betrayal | politics | murder | gun | individualism | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

France Italy Mexico

Language:

French Spanish

Release Date:

24 April 1968 (France)

Also Known As:

Birds of Prey

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinétel, Da.Ma. Cinematografica, P.A.C.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

User Reviews

The killer and the president

José Giovanni, famous for his adventure and crimi movies (Deux Hommes dans la Ville (1973)) is also a good script-writer (he wrote the script of Le Clan des Siciliens (1969)). This movie based on the novel by John Carrick, shows us the killer Le Rital (Lino Ventura) who has to kill the president of a South-American country. He received his mission by a lawyer, a certain Chavez. His commissioners all look to be partisans for the revolution but Le Rital is not trusting anyone and after the cold-blooded murder of the president he will have a lot of trouble to fly out of the country. His dialogues with an idealistic revolutionary, Chico, are interesting because they determine the motivation for each one to commit this murder. Le Rital says: "with this money I can have any woman I want". At another occasion he prohibits Chico to follow him, saying: "I will end up at the end of a rope". At the end we are not sure of what is going to happen at last: will he be shot by the troops of general Alguirez? The action in the movie is quite realistic but one has to bee a good shooter to kill a moving person at more than two hundred yards. Le Rital is a professional and he and his rifle are one, he is the man who never misses. Lino Ventura is the right cast for this somewhat underestimated movie.