The film is about a crowd of football supporters, annoyed about a referee's decision causing their team to lose the match, track down the referee and bludgeon him to death whilst his fiancé looks on, powerless !
This film is NO LAUGHING MATTER. Heavily implied violence initially actually leads later on to very ugly physical violence and then, death. The film is "sans concession" which means there is no saving or redeeming grace at the end. I put a spoiler warning because people should be warned before watching this one, especially the faint of heart. Of course ugly football violence is a reality of life today, in Europe at least .
Credit must be given to the actors for their lifelike portrayal of such scum but it is pretty frightening stuff, it is not a blood-and-gore film, but the implied violence in the behaviour is far more frightening than piles of tomato sauce and false chopped-up limbs.
The evil ringleader is portrayed by Michel Serrault, for whom I have never cared a great deal but admit his performance here is excellent. The referee is played by "Eddy Mitchell" ( real name Claude Moine ), one of the leading French authorities on American films of the 1950's and an erstwhile French rock 'n roll singer in the sixties. Today he is a much loved and appreciated figure in France.
Most of the film was made in Noisy-le-Grand, fifteen miles east of Paris, France in what was at the time a new area designed by Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill. Two high rise blocks in the form of camembert cheeses feature amply in the decors as well as a huge apartment block called "Le Palacio". Today the area has aged badly and is certainly not to be entered at night, even if you're not a referee fleeing a band of enraged supporters.
A work only to be recommended for those who derive pleasure from watching the ugliest form of violence - you are warned !!
This film is NO LAUGHING MATTER. Heavily implied violence initially actually leads later on to very ugly physical violence and then, death. The film is "sans concession" which means there is no saving or redeeming grace at the end. I put a spoiler warning because people should be warned before watching this one, especially the faint of heart. Of course ugly football violence is a reality of life today, in Europe at least .
Credit must be given to the actors for their lifelike portrayal of such scum but it is pretty frightening stuff, it is not a blood-and-gore film, but the implied violence in the behaviour is far more frightening than piles of tomato sauce and false chopped-up limbs.
The evil ringleader is portrayed by Michel Serrault, for whom I have never cared a great deal but admit his performance here is excellent. The referee is played by "Eddy Mitchell" ( real name Claude Moine ), one of the leading French authorities on American films of the 1950's and an erstwhile French rock 'n roll singer in the sixties. Today he is a much loved and appreciated figure in France.
Most of the film was made in Noisy-le-Grand, fifteen miles east of Paris, France in what was at the time a new area designed by Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill. Two high rise blocks in the form of camembert cheeses feature amply in the decors as well as a huge apartment block called "Le Palacio". Today the area has aged badly and is certainly not to be entered at night, even if you're not a referee fleeing a band of enraged supporters.
A work only to be recommended for those who derive pleasure from watching the ugliest form of violence - you are warned !!