La horse (1970)

Near the Baie de la Seine swamps, opposite the Port of Le Havre, Auguste Maroilleur, an elderly farmer, exploits 400 hectares of crop land with the help of his family, over which he rules ... See full summary »

Director:

Pierre Granier-Deferre

Writers:

Georges Godefroy (based on the novel by) (as Michel Lambesc), Pascal Jardin (scenario and adaptation)

Stars:

Jean Gabin, Danièle Ajoret, Michel Barbey

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean Gabin	...	Auguste Maroilleur
Danièle Ajoret	...	Louise
Michel Barbey	...	Maurice
Christian Barbier	...	Léon
Pierre Dux	...	Le juge d'instruction
Armando Francioli	...	Francis
Julien Guiomar	...	Le commissaire
Eléonore Hirt	...	Mathilde (as Éléonore Hirt)
Reinhard Kolldehoff	...	Hans
Félix Marten	...	Marc
Orlane Paquin	...	Véronique
Marc Porel	...	Henri
André Weber	...	Bien-Phu
Henri Attal	...	Louis
Astrid Frank	...	L'amie de Hans

Storyline

Near the Baie de la Seine swamps, opposite the Port of Le Havre, Auguste Maroilleur, an elderly farmer, exploits 400 hectares of crop land with the help of his family, over which he rules with an iron hand. Things go awry the day he discovers one of his grandsons is involved in drug traffic. To make matters worse, the reckless youth has hidden the white powder in the Maroilleur farm. Without a moment's hesitation, Auguste gets rid of the toxic substance but, of course, the mob has different views...

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Plot Keywords:

farmer | farm | isolated house | car pulled out of water | murder investigation | 

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Jean Gabin's character name is Maroyeur - or Maroilleur, the same character name that Jean Louis Trintignant has in Le Train, another Pierre Granier Deferre's film, made three years later.

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Connections

Referenced in Beginners (2010)

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Soundtracks

L'Alouette
(uncredited)
Written and Performed by Serge Gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Vannier

User Reviews

Hero and heroin

This one was the first of a series of "rural" thrillers which began to appear in the first part of the seventies.We can also mention "la veuve Couderc" "les granges brûlées" and mainly "l'affaire Dominici",a true story which also featured Gabin,in a part very similar to the one he played in "la horse" .

The clannishness in a rural milieu was not new in 1971: Becker's great "Goupi Mains Rouges" is the granddaddy of "la horse" .Granier-Deferre was never looked upon as an auteur and however his movie has stood the test of time quite well.It's a short movie (about 85 min) and the audience is never bored.Gabin is excellent in this part of a grumpy die-hard farmer.He rules over his family and no one dares to contradict him.He lives in a world that no longer exists but he is not prepared to accept another one,so the others must follow.He never contradicts himself,and even if it's difficult to side with him,because taking the law into your hands is hard to swallow for a normal human being,one cannot deny Gabin's behavior its internal logic. The villains -traffickers in drugs- are cardboard characters but it does not matter,cause it's Gabin's one man show.When he learns his grandson is involved in this dirty business,he sees red: no one in his family has already been arrested ,and his family is sacred,the only way of getting out of this mess is striking back.

Details

Country:

Italy France West Germany

Language:

French

Release Date:

22 February 1970 (France)

Also Known As:

Der Erbarmungslose

Filming Locations:

Studios de Saint-Maurice, Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne, France

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$762,333

Company Credits

Production Co:

Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC), Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC), Produzioni Atlas Consorziate (P.A.C.)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1