El derecho a matar

"It isn't bad luck," hisses the lead villain. "It's incompetence!" In truth, what more can you say for a French film that sets out to emulate the very worst of Hollywood drivel and fails even at that? This atrociously-plotted thriller makes you appreciate the narrative finesse of Death Wish and Dirty Harry, while aging pretty boy Alain Delon (who also produced and co-wrote) is a sadly inadequate stand-in for Charles Bronson or Clint Eastwood.

Delon plays a laconic gambler who rescues a dying man from a wrecked car. This turns out to be an assassination, not an accident - and Delon, as "the man who knew too much," becomes the killers' next target. This is frankly nonsensical, as Delon knows nothing about the conspiracy, and has never set eyes on the two assassins. Elsewhere, the same duo murder another man but leave his wife alive - even though she's an eye witness to the whole crime. And we're meant to believe they're afraid of getting caught?!

Still, it makes an excuse for two gay hit men with appalling 70s haircuts to chase Delon all over Paris. Given his fondness for such ghastly fashion no-no's as white socks with black trousers and black shoes, I could sympathies all too readily with their murderous intent! It all climaxes in the most ludicrous, ineptly-staged car chase you're ever likely to see - but at least Italian sex-bomb Dalila di Lazzaro adds a much-needed touch of glamour as Delon's girlfriend.

If this dreadful movie is of any use at all, it's for correcting the old stereotype that European Cinema Equals Art while Hollywood Cinema Equals Trash. True, the Americans may make more trash than the French...but at least they do it properly!

A previous reviewer has referred to Alain Delon as an ' ageing pretty boy'. Time stops for no one of course but it takes more than just a pretty face to maintain a film career as long as his. Joseph Losey, who directed him in 'Monsieur Klein', remarked on his complex nature. This and his air of unpredictability makes him watchable whatever his material. Now in his eighties I am sure he looks back with pride on the films he made with Visconti, Antonioni, Clement, Melville, Verneuil and Cavalier.

It is probably best to draw a discreet veil over many of his later films although he excelled as Mr. Klein, was awarded a well-deserved Cesar for 'Notre Histoire' and played both Baron de Charlus in 'Swann in Love' and the title role in 'Retour de Casanova' despite being physically miscast in both.

So we come to 'Three Men to Kill'! The Michel Gefaut of Delon narrowly escapes death at the hands of assassins working for an organisation that seems to think he knows more about its shady dealings than he should but the tables are turned when the hunted becomes the hunter....... By far the most interesting characters are as always, the villains, played here by veterans Michel Auclair and Pierre Dux, who made their respective film debuts in 1946 and 1932! Both these actors convey so much by doing so little and Dux is gifted the best line: "Art is an indispensable futility." Subject for debate!

It is also nice to see fellow veteran Simone Renant in her last film role, as Delon's mother. Good performance from Christian Barbier as his buddy on the force.

The love interest is supplied by Dalila di Lazzaro who is adequate in the role.

Good production values, subtle score, utterly ludicrous plot and a customary car chase that has been done so much better.

Delon has produced and it is capably directed by Jacques Deray with whom Delon made nine films, of varying quality.

One should not approach this film with too many expectations for it is what it is: cinematic chewing gum.

A professional poker player happens upon a badly injured man in a crashed car and takes him to the hospital, not knowing that the unfortunate gent had been the victim of an assassination attempt. The killers suspect that the dying man must have given out some incriminating information about them and their government employers and set out to make the gambler their next target.

Like a few other French thrillers before it, this film certainly owes some debt to Alfred Hitchcock with its story of an innocent man thrust into the middle of a dangerous situation where criminals try to hunt him down and kill him. It's not the most original of story-lines but this fast-paced film remains an enjoyable watch. There is enough action and incident punctuated through its run-time to ensure it never gets boring, such as an exciting car chase through the streets of Paris, a keyhole assassination, an attempted drowning on a crowded beach and a little bit of nudity courtesy of Italian actress Dalila Di Lazzaro who will be familiar to Euro genre fans for her roles in cult items such as Phenomena (1985). But it's really Alain Delon's movie ultimately. The role probably doesn't stretch him too much but he is quite a cool actor and holds things together pretty well I thought. On the whole, I found this to be a very enjoyable movie; it may not have brought anything especially new to the table but it did the job well enough for me.

A professional gambler on his way to the gambling house saved a guy who crashed on the countryside road and by not asked or checked first whether that guy was wounded badly or where his wounds were, he just hauled him out of the car, and again, didn't pay any attention to anything else. He drove and sent the he-thought-the-guy-was-just-a wounded-car-crash-survivor and a complete stranger to the hospital emergency. And again, the nurse and the two emergency workers didn't pay any attention to the condition of the guy in the poker gambler's car, just hauled him to the gurney without checking first what the condition of that person in the car with so much blood, until after you-don't-know-how-long, a doctor came out announced the guy they brought in had two fatal gunshot wounds. What kind of French hospital in the 80s was this? Emergency room didn't seem to have anything emergent. And the gambler didn't even pay any attention to his car's backseats, the blood on the seats and the floor? Anyway, the most stupid scenario was the gambler didn't pay any attention to the guy he helped sending to the hospital, he didn't witnessed the actual killing or assassination of that guy, why those two so-called hit-man bozos would bother to have him eliminated? For what? The gambler didn't even looked at the face of the wounded guy, albeit linked him as one of the assassinated three men.

Furthermore, what's the purpose behind these killings? The French screenplay writers usually drafted stupid scripts without any logic. Delon just produced and played those cool but stupid roles with his handsome face.

This is such a stupid and mindless film with non-exist logic. If you could watch on or even finish it, you'd better have your I.Q. re-tested.

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.