3 hommes à abattre (1980)

A man is pursued by killers after helping someone at a car crash.

Director:

Jacques Deray

Writers:

Jean-Patrick Manchette (novel), Alain Delon (adaptation) (as A. Delon)

Stars:

Alain Delon, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Michel Auclair

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alain Delon	...	Michel Gerfaut
Dalila Di Lazzaro	...	Béa
Michel Auclair	...	Leprince
Pascale Roberts	...	Mme Borel
Lyne Chardonnet	...	L'infirmière au dossier
Jean-Pierre Darras	...	Chocard
Bernard Le Coq	...	Gassowitz
François Perrot	...	Etienne Germer
André Falcon	...	Jacques Mouzon
Féodor Atkine	...	Leblanc
Yvan Tanguy
Peter Bonke	...	Bastien
Daniel Breton	...	Carlo
Christian Barbier	...	Liethard
Simone Renant	...	Mme. Gerfaut

Storyline

A man helps the victim of an auto accident, not realizing that the man has actually been shot. The men who shot him are now after the man who helped him, in order to eliminate him as a potential witness. Soon they are killing everyone he even comes in contact with in order to get him.

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Plot Keywords:

elimination | fake accident | hard boiled | underground | shot to death | 

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Genres:

Thriller

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User Reviews

If you can over a look a plot that often makes no sense this is a pretty good thriller with one heck of a chase

Odd French thriller starring Alain Delon about a man on the way to his weekly poker game who stops to help a man who crashed his car. Taking the man to the hospital he soon finds that people are trying to kill him for an unknown reason. What he soon learns is that the man in the car was assassinated and that he is being targeted to prevent him from talking in case the injured man said anything before reaching the hospital.

The film walks the fine line between being a tense believable thriller with the fear of being on a hit list for unknown reason, crashing into the unbelievable elements of the story (grand conspiracy, going after our hero despite never finding out if he knows anything, the trail of bodies that clearly points to his innocence, why are they worried about Delon and not the fact that people see the assassins and on and on). The film really works at times (including a great car chase) and at other times makes you shot at the screen in disbelief (who wrote came up with some of this?). Its frustrating because it should be great instead its just okay.

Worth a look so long as you don't let the internal inconsistencies get to you.

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

31 October 1980 (France)

Also Known As:

Three Men to Kill

Filming Locations:

Trouville, Calvados, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Adel Productions, France 2 (FR2), Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1