Action Man (1967)

Sophisticated crook talks ex-crook and now respectable business man into one last caper. This highly planned and well executed crime goes off without a hitch until rival bad guys want a piece of the action.

Director:

Jean Delannoy

Writers:

J.M. Flynn (after: "The Action Man"), Alphonse Boudard (adaptation)

Stars:

Jean Gabin, Robert Stack, Margaret Lee

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean Gabin	...	Denis Farrand
Robert Stack	...	Jim Beckley
Margaret Lee	...	Betty
Jean Topart	...	Monsieur Henri
Walter Giller	...	Maurice Labrousse
Lucienne Bogaert	...	Old woman
Georges Aminel	...	Le commissaire Leduc
Albert Michel	...	Gaston
Henri Coutet	...	Le vigile
Bernard Musson	...	M. Goulette
Pierre Koulak	...	Ange Peresi
Mino Doro	...	Luigi Savani
Bob Ingarao	...	Un complice
Carlo Nell	...	Un malfrat
Pierre Moncorbier	...	Le client ivre (as Moncorbier)

Storyline

Sophisticated crook talks ex-crook and now respectable business man into one last caper. This highly planned and well executed crime goes off without a hitch until rival bad guys want a piece of the action.

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Plot Keywords:

sacrifice | retired gangster | restaurant owner | reformed criminal | ransom | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Robert Stack says in his biography that Jean Gabin - whom he called the French Spencer Tracy - was a person very pleasant to work with. Their relationship was very good. But Robert Stack also admitted have spent the Christmas Eve, alone, far from his family, because of the shooting, at Hotel George V in Paris.

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Connections

Spoofed in A Robbery In... Style #2 (American, French, Italian) (1978)

User Reviews

Good Caper Flick

Jean Gabin has three or four good businesses, he's married to beautiful authoress Suzanne Fion, he gets to slap around the waiter who tries to turn his restaurant into a cocaine pitch and he's bored. He plans a robbery of the bank across from his bar -- they've got a half-billion-franc payroll every month, like clockwork -- but doesn't really expect to do anything about it until his old buddy, Robert Stack shows up out of nowhere.

The movie has a beautiful set-piece robbery, Gabin slaps around several people and there is plenty of sadism and treachery, yet I found the movie to be good, but not the great fun I had expected. Perhaps I had gone in expecting too much, but Gabin is too old to play the virile action hero, so he's the brains of the operation, and Stack is the brawn. And Stack is never brutal or commanding or anything more than Gabin's efficient sidekick, his loyal dog, who has been looking for Gabin since he disappeared from Indo-China in 1954.

It's understandable, because it's Gabin, but it means that there's little depth to it. It's just a well-run caper film running along its clockwork mechanisms. that's a lot of fun, but nothing more.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site [France]

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French

Release Date:

1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

Action Man

Filming Locations:

Studios de Billancourt - 50 Quai du Point du Jour, Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films Copernic, Fida Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Sound System)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1