Der Erbarmungslose

Ever the tough guy, Jean Gabin plays a steely farm owner who runs a strict operation. When his grandson becomes involved with dangerous criminals, the family farm becomes a battleground. Gabin defends his home from the gangsters using equally brutal measures and traps. In addition to the criminals, the police begin to look in on the farm and the numerous deaths. Not Gabin's most complex performance, nor the most well constructed gangster flick, La Horse is still a satisfying, bloody thriller which is plenty fun worth looking for.

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.

I like the 70s rural french feel.

Gabin still as mojo.

I tought the photography was good for what it is.

Any review under 5 are too harsh.

Recommended.

"La horse" is the kind of movie no one mentions but it is definitely one you must have seen as it's superb! We are put in some French village at where everybody knows everyone and at where we find a farmer's family that's been led by the dictatorial Jean Gabin who only believes in one word "work". The man's dream got totally splattered when one of his sons is involved in drug traffic and brings the white powder to the farm. Gabin thinks that throwing it away solves all problems but of course the mob wants their stuff back... What then follows is a superb exciting piece of a movie in where the contrasts between the old French and the new ones are explored in great 70's cinematographic arts. Superb movies that is over before you realize it. Also musical score by the godlike Serge Gainsbourg!

I had not known this film before, I ran into a photo of a helicopter which was a capture from it and I became curious. I am very happy I have seen this movie, it is one of the best I could see these last months. It is that kind of story of a very strong character, a man who feels responsible for his family and does whatever he can to keep the honor intact. Even though, at first, he thinks he can do it all by himself, he soon discovers that if one wants to help one's family, one needs the family's help. The main character, that of Jean Gabin, is the image of the old French farmer and landowner, who is subjected to his land and rules his home like a dictator. No one dares to talk back to him, or, if any does, the old man knows how to shut his mouth. And when a danger appears that threatens the family, he does not hesitate for a second to react radically. When the danger becomes even greater, Maurice uses the help of his sons-in-law, and I think this is the moment they finally become family. The last one who proves to be a member of the family will be Henri; found in his cellar by the police, he finds the exact words and action that discharge him and his grandpa in the eyes of the law, and in the last scene of the film, he accepts his status of a farmer, by accompanying his old men to work. All in all, I liked this film very much and I will recommend it to my friends.