Having served eleven years in prison as a convicted murderer and narrowly escaping the clutches of Madame la Guillotine, Joseph Damiani who became José Giovanni, could hardly be called a jackpot of admirable character traits. Once his novel 'Le Trou', based upon his own attempted escape from prison was taken up by Jacques Becker, he never looked back which just goes to prove that crime does pay. Naturally he himself asserted that he had 'paid his debt to society'.
His lurid background and intimate knowledge of the criminal mentality certainly gave an edge and a sense of realism to his writings which proved irresistible to directors and provided meaty roles for some of France's most iconic actors. Here he has adapted his own 'Haut-fer'.
Director Robert Enrico has again secured the expensive services of Lino Ventura who teams up with equally expensive Bourvil and they complement each other very well in their sole outing together. Ventura is entering his mature phase with his best roles yet to come and Bourvil again proves his abilities as a straight actor despite being known mainly for his rather infantile comedies.
Laurent, an ex-con played by Ventura, helps the Hector of Bourvil to run his failing sawmill by utilising a bunch of jailbirds on parole as lumberjacks. This is resented by a powerful local landowner and results in gang warfare. Moreover it seems that Laurent's motives for aiding Hector are not of the finest......
It is set in the Vosges region but with its subject matter and Morricone-like score by Francois de Roubaix, it could just as easily be transposed to the wild West where men were men and women were willing. As one would expect from Giovanni the men are decidedly men and the women seem willing enough, none more so than lovely Marie Dubois.
Plenty of testosterone-fuelled, mucho macho posturing here of course, notably from Jess Hahn as a Neanderthal nitwit whilst Michel Constantine supplies his customarily understated menace. Ventura is able to utilise his previous experience in the Ring to great effect in the frequent fisticuff fests that punctuate the film at regular intervals. He also gets to rival Jean Gabin in the sheer quantity of cigarettes he smokes.
For those who like this sort of thing there is a great deal here to enjoy but it fails alas to fulfil its early promise and is simply not substantial enough to justify its two hour length whilst Giovanni's themes are better suited to a more enclosed underworld setting. Great conflagration scene however and an effective downbeat ending.
We should be grateful for small mercies in that this film was not directed by Giovanni himself.
