Payoff (2003)

Two dirty cops decide to extort a lord mobster using an account book they found during the investigation of a murder case.

Director:

Gilles Paquet-Brenner

Writers:

Renaud Bendavid, Gilles Paquet-Brenner

Stars:

Stomy Bugsy, Titoff, Élodie Navarre

Cast

Credited cast:
Stomy Bugsy	...	Lt. Carlos Gomez
Titoff	...	Lt. Maxime "Max" Tavarès
Élodie Navarre	...	Paulina
Jean Yanne	...	Tonton
Noémie Lenoir	...	Gina
Etienne Chicot	...	Commissaire Cagnoty
Daniel Duval	...	Izenberg
Philippe Lemaire	...	Silvio Baginorelli
Eléonora Donde	...	Catherine Gomez
Tony Amoni	...	St Jean, le Rasta
Guy Amram	...	Rocco
Moussa Maaskri	...	Marco
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Brahim Aimad	...	Francky (as Brabra)
Marc Andréoni	...	Nicolas Darochard
Tomasz Bialkowski

Storyline

In Marseille, the lazy and dirty police Detective Maxime "Max" Tavarès is assigned by Commissaire Cagnoty to work with Detective Carlos Gomez, who has just been transferred from Paris. Gomez has problem to accept the procedures of the corrupt Max and they investigate the apparent suicide of the accountant Lucino. The efficient Gomez finds a four leaf clover into Lucino's nose and they seek out his daughter, the stripper Paulina Lucino, and who might be the killer. They stumble with two criminals in front of her building and they arrest them. When a hit-man posing of lawyer kills the two men in the district, Gomez and Max conclude that there is an informer in the precinct. Meanwhile they contact Paulina and she asks for protection and a painting of her mother that is on the wall of her father's apartment. Meanwhile Max is pressed by the Internal Affairs to help in the investigation of his partner, who lives in a fancy and expensive house with his wife, two sons and his sister Gina and ...

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Plot Keywords:

character names as title | surnames as title | three word title | cell phone | bare chested male | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Comedy

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Did You Know?

Goofs

On the news report on TV at the end, the French word "trafic" is written the English way in the middle of a sentence in French: "traffic de drogue".

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Connections

References The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

User Reviews

some sparks in this action movie

There are some sparks in this action movie, with a story about corrupt cops and gangs inter-fighting set in Marseille. Certainly, it is not easy to do an action film with much of the time filled in with car chases, and other type of stunts, when you do not have the means or the experience of the American film-makers in this field. That's why the good parts of the film need to be looked for some place else - in the characters of the cops - maybe bad guys on the right side of the law, maybe corrupt (there seem to be no straight cop in this movie) but still likable and credible, maybe in the cynical approach of the script that seems to say that there are no really good fellas on any side, but that even the bad ones are not that bad if you care to hear them.

The dialog between the cops and gangsters films made by American and French directors is not something new, it started in the 40s with the Bogart and E.G. Robinson films, was then taken over by the French in the 60s in films starring Alain Delon and Belmondo, and continues until nowadays, when borders are easily crossed and international casts are the norm. Here we have a touch of French humor, some bright dialogs that improve the quality of the film, and make it worth seeing after all.

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French German

Release Date:

7 May 2003 (France)

Also Known As:

Payoff

Filming Locations:

Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,127,899

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hugo Films, Les Productions de la Guéville, M6

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1