Borsalino and Co. (1974)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Jacques Deray

Writers:

Jacques Deray (writer)
Pascal Jardin (writer)

Release Date:

23 October 1974 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Action

Plot Keywords:

1930s | 1940s | WWII | Violence | Punctuation In Title

Cast

Alain Delon	...	Roch Siffredi
Riccardo Cucciolla	...	Volpone
Daniel Ivernel	...	Inspector Fanti
Reinhard Kolldehoff	...	Sam (as René Kolldehoff)
André Falcon	...	Inspector Cazenave
Lionel Vitrant	...	Fernand
Adolfo Lastretti	...	Luciano
Greg Germain	...	Le 'Nègre'
Pierre Koulak	...	Spada
Marius Laurey	...	Teissere
Serge Davri	...	Charlie
Günter Meisner	...	Le médecin
Jacques Debary	...	Le préfet
Djéloul Beghoura	...	Lucien (as Djelloul Beghoura)
Anton Diffring

Also Known As:

Blood on the Streets (UK)
Borsalino & Co. (West Germany)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

France | Italy | West Germany

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:16 (cut version) | West Germany:18 (nf) | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | Norway:18 (cut) (1983) | Norway:(Banned) (1975-2003) (cinema release) | Iceland:16 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Adel Productions

Movie Connections:

Follows Borsalino (1970)

BORSALINO AND CO. (Jacques Deray, 1974) **

Alain Delon, already past his prime, returns to the tried-and-trusted formula of BORSALINO (1970), a fondly-remembered gangster pastiche (which I had watched some time ago, albeit dubbed, and been somewhat underwhelmed by) with a surprisingly mean-spirited but ultimately indifferent follow-up. The film is one of a staggering 9 Delon made with director Deray (the only other one I've seen is LA PISCINE [1969], which I remember liking). However, since I had purchased LE SAMOURAI (1967) while in Hollywood and recently ordered LE CERCLE ROUGE (1970), I thought I might as well give this one a try...

Though Delon served also as producer, he delivers a typically blank-faced performance and the film, with no new ideas in either script or direction, is tolerable mainly for its bouts of excessive, almost cartoonish violence. The international cast is reliable but their contribution is pretty ordinary on this occasion: Riccardo Cucciolla in a dual role (!) as Delon's gangleader rival and his twin; Rene' Koldehoff as Cucciolla's heavy-set chief thug; Catherine Rouvel (still looking gorgeous 15 years after swimming in the nude for Jean Renoir in LUNCH ON THE GRASS [1959]) also reprising her role from the original as a high-class prostitute and Delon's old flame, Daniel Ivernel (from Bunuel's DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID [1964]) as the level-headed Police Commissioner, Alfredo Lastretti (from Jess Franco's VENUS IN FURS [1968]) as one of Delon's lieutenants...plus a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo from Anton Diffring (perhaps imposed on the film by its backers, BORSALINO AND CO. being a French/Italian/West German co-production).