Der Fall Serrano

The doorbell rings twice, then Delon wake up, open the door where his friend a politician come in and tells him that committed a murder to takes a deadly files which was been blackmailed by an assistent having to kill him, that's the opening this fabulous french movie, besides those files contains several powerful politics of a high level of the government, bribery scandals unleashed many bodies along the way, an intricate net of corrupted politicians are in danger under those hot files, even reaching at state department which includes the Minister of justice himself, the police splited in two separate investigating were on relentless pursuit.

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.5

"Death of a Corrupt Man" begins with, well, the death - or more accurately the murder - of a corrupt man. Only this corrupt man was keeping a detailed journal of his illegal activities and transactions, implicating a lot of the top politicians of Paris. The killer steals the journal and comes to the house of his best friend and president of a company (Alain Delon), in the middle of the night, asking for help. Delon agrees to provide him with an alibi, but there are plenty of people who will be ruined if the journal falls into the wrong hands, and they will stop at NOTHING to get it back. "Death of a Corrupt Man" is essentially the French answer to the popular American pessimistic political thrillers of its era ("Three Days of the Condor, "The Parallax View", etc.), with one man fighting against the entire corrupt system. It's a bit too long (120 minutes) and uneven: tense and involving at times (with some good car stunts by expert Remy Julienne) , talky and dull at other times. Alain Delon and Ornella Muti make a highly attractive leading couple, and give nicely understated performances as well. (**1/2)

"The Death of a Corrupt Man" is an outstanding French thriller with elements of the political and psych thriller, gangster movies and the typical conspiracy films of the seventies. Casted with some of the best European actors of that time - Alain Delon, Ornela Muti, Stephane Audran, Mireille Darc and madman Klaus Kinski - it tells the story of a big conspiracy with a corrupt politician getting rid of all his opponents. Now it's lawyer Alain Delon's turn to fight the power. Of course he's becoming the target of some killers soon, a wild hunt begins where several people lose their lives until Delon finds the real villain. The pacing is fast, the plot twisted and thrilling, and the really good actors and clever direction add much impact to this powerful thriller with some furious action scenes including a great truck chase. If you get a video or DVD copy of that film or find it in your TV guide, watch it!

A political thriller around a notebook. Murders, secret society, cops , a sort of hero looking for the name of the killer of his friend, crumbs of a romance and a beautiful cast. Corruption and image of justice. Beautiful confrontation between Klaus Kinki and Alain Delon and a young Ornela Mutti. Alain Delon as indestructible Xav , reminding , in some measure, Charles Bronson characters and the bitter end. Maybe, a film for nostalgics because the truths defined by story, present today, in same measure, has another taste. But, sure, delightful.

I watched this film for its legendary Stan Getz soundtrack and the mesmerising Ornella Muti. But like the annoying Deer Hunter where the totally virtuous hero will leave no stone unturned for his friend and is afraid of nothing and no one, Delon battles the entire corrupt establishment single handedly and no bullet ever touches him. Actually the Deer Hunter is a lot better than this in that great realism and characterisation is set up in the first half then you have the unrealistic second half. In Delon produced films you usually have him in every single tiresome shot and he is totally invincible, uncorrupted and he has no sexual tenderness or weaknesses. He even did this formula for his son's movies which were tiresome wasted opportunities. I will never forgive how he destroyed Zurlini's masterpiece, Indian Summer, by having it recut and removing the scenes that had other people in it.