Le tueur

Fabio Testi is a professional killer who's been caught. He gets himself transferred to a psychiatric hospital then engineers an escape with the help of his brother, Jacques Richard. It's up to homicide commissioner Jean Gabin to catch him, with director Bernard Blier trying to impose less old-fashioned methods on the old detective who only has five months to retirement and knows how to use his old-fashioned methods.

It's an ugly movie, made deliberately ugly by the way DP Claude Renoir shoots it; there''s smoke and fog, and the backgrounds are full of rubble and rubbish, and everything seems to have a brown edge to it -- although the use of Eastmancolor, which has probably faded over the last half century doesn't make anything look better. It's a police procedural, but it's not the clean sort, with cops who look like they're on the take, and Blier more concerned with things looking good with the public than in stopping Testi, who racks up a considerable body count over the course of the movie. It looks like the French equivalent of DIRTY HARRY.

This would be violent thriller is thoroughly devoid of interest.Jean Gabin's career reached its nadir in the sixties and the seventies .At the time,Carné,Renoir,Grémillon,Ophuls,Duvivier and Autant-Lara were either dead or artistically dead and Gabin never worked (perhaps wisely)with the Nouvelle Vague.He could have tried Chabrol though.

This is the story of a killer (Fabio Testi's playing is appalling)and Gabin is hot on his heels .The movie is as obsolete as the computer(!) the Police use or Bernard Blier's recriminations about Gabin's assistant's long hair.Denys De la Patellière,a director who had NEVER produced a decent movie in a rather long career,with the exception of "retour de Manivelle" ,reached here one of his lowest points.

Gabin's career was almost over but another one was about to take off:Gerard Depardieu has a small part in the third half .His playing is not particularly remarkable.

In this movie, once again after LE PACHA, Jean Gabin plays a police commissioner for whom the new investigation methods using computer are not sufficient enough to fight against crime; too smooth for his taste. Some kind of DIRTY HARRY like scheme, if you prefer. A very early seventies "fashion". Here, you have not only Jean Gabin as the lead, but also Fabio Testi, just before he made also NADA in France. Fabio Testi nearly steals the film from Gabin; he was the main polizzotesco - Italian crime flicks from the seventies - star in Italy, so it is normal that in this French Italian production he was hired. A good and solid French crime yarn, where Gabin only repeats himself. But who will complain because of this?

Watching this film, I repeatedly failed to shake off the "who cares?" feeling. "Le tueur" miserably fails to deliver. It is not entirely unwatchable, but this is mainly due to the presence of highly-acclaimed legends such as Gabin and Blier, who wasted their talents here majorly. The story is flimsy: dangerous criminal breaks out deviously, hides from the police with the help of old mates hoping for an escape abroad (with a girl he picked up on the way) – he keeps one step ahead of the cops all the time, partly due to his ruthlessness, until the police begin to attempt using equally cunning methods. The ending is predictably abrupt, yet lacks the ingenious elegance one is hoping for. This movie has no redeeming features such as artistic photography (though I did like the geographical locations) or striking mood-enhancing music. The characters all remain very flat. We don't take to the killer (for the obvious fact he is a ruthless killer), not even when he unconvincingly starts developing warm feelings for Gerda (Uschi Glas). Strangely enough, he is not even a convincing psycho, looking much too nice to be one. All we are left with are the apparent differences between Le Guen (Gabin) and Tellier (Blier) and the way the police are plodding to get results. And even all that is not too impressive.

Bernard Blier is the best actor in this, like in many other films. Then Jean Gabin. Both, Blier and Gabin, are two giants from the category of great actors. It's always a great pleasure to see them in a film, even when they are playing themselves, it's a matter of charm, charisma, personality and immense talent. Fabio Testi and Uschi Glas are not part of the category of great actors, they are part of the category of decorative beauties. Gérard Depardieu has a much too small role for me to express an opinion. The story is trivial, from the deja vu category. Hubert Giraud's music is special good. And the cinematography of Claude Renoir is elaborated. Worth seeing but it's not a masterpiece.