Mort d'un pourri (1977)

In the middle of the night, deputy Philippe Dubaye wakes up his old friend Xavier Maréchal with disturbing news: he has just killed Serrano, a racketeer with extant political connections. ... See full summary »

Director:

Georges Lautner

Writers:

Jean Laborde (novel), Michel Audiard (dialogue)

Stars:

Alain Delon, Ornella Muti, Stéphane Audran

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alain Delon	...	Xavier 'Xav' Maréchal
Ornella Muti	...	Valérie
Stéphane Audran	...	Christiane
Mireille Darc	...	Françoise
Maurice Ronet	...	Philippe Dubaye
Michel Aumont	...	Commissaire Moreau
Jean Bouise	...	Commissaire Pernais
Daniel Ceccaldi	...	Lucien Lacor
Julien Guiomar	...	Fondari
Klaus Kinski	...	Nicolas Tomski
François Chaumette	...	Lansac
Xavier Depraz	...	Marcel
Henri Virlojeux	...	Paul
Colette Duval	...	La secrétaire de Serrano
Carole Lange	...	La fille du vestiaire

Storyline

In the middle of the night, deputy Philippe Dubaye wakes up his old friend Xavier Maréchal with disturbing news: he has just killed Serrano, a racketeer with extant political connections. Serrano kept proofs of Dubaye's involvement in corrupt dealings and was poised to use them against the deputy. Xavier readily agrees to cover up for his old pal Philippe, but he soon runs into difficulties. Nobody believes Dubaye's alibi. And everybody -- influential personalities, powerful businessmen, dubious go-betweens and the police -- wants to get hold of the documents that served to blackmail Dubaye; by all possible means...

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Plot Keywords:

corruption | based on novel

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

7 December 1977 (France)

Also Known As:

The Twisted Detective

Company Credits

Production Co:

Adel Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Due to his wild reputation of being particularly difficult, the casting of Klaus Kinski on this film caused some serious apprehension to director Georges Lautner, who eventually found in him the nicest and most cooperative actor he could have dreamed of.

User Reviews

Long, uneven French political thriller

"Death of a Corrupt Man" begins with, well, the death - or more accurately the murder - of a corrupt man. Only this corrupt man was keeping a detailed journal of his illegal activities and transactions, implicating a lot of the top politicians of Paris. The killer steals the journal and comes to the house of his best friend and president of a company (Alain Delon), in the middle of the night, asking for help. Delon agrees to provide him with an alibi, but there are plenty of people who will be ruined if the journal falls into the wrong hands, and they will stop at NOTHING to get it back. "Death of a Corrupt Man" is essentially the French answer to the popular American pessimistic political thrillers of its era ("Three Days of the Condor, "The Parallax View", etc.), with one man fighting against the entire corrupt system. It's a bit too long (120 minutes) and uneven: tense and involving at times (with some good car stunts by expert Remy Julienne) , talky and dull at other times. Alain Delon and Ornella Muti make a highly attractive leading couple, and give nicely understated performances as well. (**1/2)