It's dirty cops vs dirty crooks with amoral women on the side in this thoroughly cynical policier; there's hardly anyone to root for, or, to put it more accurately, the traditional "people to root for" are hardly in the film. Fourth-billed Michel Piccoli, in one of his earliest roles, is easily the breakout star of the show as a cop who might make even Richard Gere of "Internal Affairs" (1990) blush, though top-billed Charles Vanel is almost equally as good as the aging mobster who will kill anyone who stands in his way. The explosive finale is certainly memorable and worth waiting for! **1/2 out of 4.
4 Reviews
"Tell me,old chap,what happens if you take off your wooden leg?"
morrison-dylan-fan21 June 2016
Warning: Spoilers
After watching Claude Chabrol's dazzling Alice or the Last Escapade,I took a look at co-star Charles Vanel's IMDb page,where I discovered that Vanel stars in a Film Noir I've been meaning to watch for ages,which led to me getting ready to sin in Paris.
The plot:
Learning that the police are about to arrest him, legendary gangster Léonce "Le Fondu" Pozzi decides to break out of the hospital.During the escape, Fondu kills a cop.Seeing his partner dead on the ground,inspector Vardier vows to track down Fondu and to bring his underground empire down. Believing that Vardier can't get Fondu on his own,the head of police teams him up with new inspector Gilbert Barot. Looking for a weak spot to Fondu's inner circle, Vardier and Barot start to investigate the vices of the sinners from Paris.
View on the film:
Backed by a rousing score from Michel Legrand,co-writer/(along with Paul Andréota and Jean Ferry) director Pierre Chenal & cinematographer Marcel Grignon shine a light on the sinners with ultra-stylised shadows being wrapped around the strip clubs and Fondu's safe house.Breaking the darkness, Chenal fires shards of light across the screen as Fondu and his gang shoot up Vardier's routes.
Spun from a novel by Auguste Le Breton,the screenplay by Andréota/Ferry and Chenal wonderfully threads moody Film Noir with rustic Police Procedural.Following Vardier and Barot going by the book to break Fondu's gang,the writers shatter the cops rules with crackling Film Noir smoked in seedy dens and clubs that leads to Vardier uncovering a marvellously vicious twist ending. Attempting to balance the Noir with the Procedural,the writers disappointingly makes the small 78 min run time drag its feet a bit,due to Vardier and Barot rule book search for Fondu running out of steam.
Laughing at any cop trying to get their way, Charles Vanel gives a great performance as Fondu,whose mischievous grin Vanel wonderfully uses as a mask for the blunt-force actions of Fondu. Stuck with rookie Barot, (played by a very good François Guérin) Michel Piccoli gives a terrific performance as Vardier,whose rule book manner Piccoli joyfully twists and turns into Film Noir rebellion,as Vardier and Barot are surrounded by the sinners of Paris.
The plot:
Learning that the police are about to arrest him, legendary gangster Léonce "Le Fondu" Pozzi decides to break out of the hospital.During the escape, Fondu kills a cop.Seeing his partner dead on the ground,inspector Vardier vows to track down Fondu and to bring his underground empire down. Believing that Vardier can't get Fondu on his own,the head of police teams him up with new inspector Gilbert Barot. Looking for a weak spot to Fondu's inner circle, Vardier and Barot start to investigate the vices of the sinners from Paris.
View on the film:
Backed by a rousing score from Michel Legrand,co-writer/(along with Paul Andréota and Jean Ferry) director Pierre Chenal & cinematographer Marcel Grignon shine a light on the sinners with ultra-stylised shadows being wrapped around the strip clubs and Fondu's safe house.Breaking the darkness, Chenal fires shards of light across the screen as Fondu and his gang shoot up Vardier's routes.
Spun from a novel by Auguste Le Breton,the screenplay by Andréota/Ferry and Chenal wonderfully threads moody Film Noir with rustic Police Procedural.Following Vardier and Barot going by the book to break Fondu's gang,the writers shatter the cops rules with crackling Film Noir smoked in seedy dens and clubs that leads to Vardier uncovering a marvellously vicious twist ending. Attempting to balance the Noir with the Procedural,the writers disappointingly makes the small 78 min run time drag its feet a bit,due to Vardier and Barot rule book search for Fondu running out of steam.
Laughing at any cop trying to get their way, Charles Vanel gives a great performance as Fondu,whose mischievous grin Vanel wonderfully uses as a mask for the blunt-force actions of Fondu. Stuck with rookie Barot, (played by a very good François Guérin) Michel Piccoli gives a terrific performance as Vardier,whose rule book manner Piccoli joyfully twists and turns into Film Noir rebellion,as Vardier and Barot are surrounded by the sinners of Paris.
Faithful to the novel
searchanddestroy-122 April 2022
I am a die hard fan of Auguste Le Breton's books. They are all rough, tough, brutal, poignant, gripping; Le Breton wrote not with his head but his guts, his pain, his inner rage, from his terrible childhood in orphanages, awful children prisons between two world wars. His novel is a terrific character study and a depiction of the police procedures for which Le Breton stayed with the cops during several weeks. Piccoli is terrific here, one of his most underrated roles and a bad one. Not the same he will have thirteen years later in MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS. This is a bittersweet story, that leaves a strange taste in the mouth, but that's precisely what I love. The ending scene involving Michel Piccoli reminded more or less the same sequence in William Wyler's DETECTIVE STORY, where Kirk Douglas had a character situation close to Piccoli's one.
one of the "two cops team " first movies.
dbdumonteil15 February 2002
Pierre Chenal's only claim to fame remains "le dernier tournant",(1939)historically the first version of "the postman always rings twice"(which will have three more versions).Therefore,the best of his work is to be found in the pre-war years,but even such works as "l'alibi" (1937,with Erich Von Stroheim) are dated now. And nobody seems to care about his chef d'oeuvre "la foire aux chimères"(1946).After an Argentinian career during the war,he came back to France to make undistinguished works the likes of "rafles sur la ville".The plot is very thin : an old and dangerous gangster (Vanel)is on the lam.Two cops are hot on his heels :this is the -relative- originality of the screen play;the two cops team will become a sub genre of the thriller in the last thirty years;and of course,two "different" cops:one is a tough guy(Michel Piccoli),the other one is humane and gives cigarettes to everyone around.Piccoli has a love affair with his colleague's wife -who is some Brigitte Bardot ersatz-. Vanel is betrayed by his lover -a Simone Signoret ersatz-.And that is what the film is : a film noir ersatz.
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