Borsalino

Jacques Deray, who directed gangster genre movies almost exclusively, has achieved his most popular success (in America) with this movie. It was a stroke to combine the two leading men in roles which were cut out for each of them. Credit for this must go (in part, at least) to Alain Delon, who produced the movie. The very catchy, and hummable music for this movie was by the prolific composer, Claude Bolling, who collaborated with Deray on other films.

My only carping criticism is the length of the movie. I feel that about 15 minutes could have been trimmed in order to keep it moving.

This may not be the best of Jacques Deray's nine collaborations with Alain Delon but it is certainly the most commercially successful. Delon maintained that Deray was the director with whom he had the greatest affinity which is praise indeed considering his sterling work for such luminaries as Visconti, Melville, Verneuil and Clément!

Based upon Scammano's novel 'Bandits at Marseilles' about real life gangsters Carbone and Spirito whose names have naturally been changed, this is essentially a vehicle for Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo who are both at the height of their popularity and in their physical prime. The pairing proved to be a masterstroke as both actors possess charisma in spades whilst Delon's measured coolness is balanced by Belmondo's easy-going amiability.

Set in 1930's Marseilles this has excellent period detail, a catchy if somewhat repetitious theme by Claude Bolling, female interest in the shape of elegant Francoise Christophe, mysterious Corinne Marchand and delectable Catherine Rouvel and as a bonus we have the always good value Michel Bouquet as a shady lawyer.

Plenty of mucho-macho posturing of course and corpses galore with a shootout set in an abattoir that will have assorted veggies and vegans foaming at the mouth. The imaginative ways in which various low-lifes are bumped off anticipate 'The Godfather' although Deray's film lacks the psychological depth of Coppola's masterpiece. Deray was also said to be influenced by Melville but lacks that director's Existentialist feel. What is certain is that Deray made his mark in the thriller genre which he considered to be 'spectacle of the higher order.'

I watched this movie for the first time when i was 15 and continue watching it today,this movie is timeless, i was already familiar with Alain Delon and most of the works by Jean-Paul Belmondo,the two actors are phenomenal by themselves and were electrifying together in this movie.I find no fault in this representation of french mobsters in the 30's, and further feel that this movies should have received similar praise to movies such as our more recent "the Godfather".The movie starts off in a french Bistro with François Capella(Belmondo)shooting pool, and a lady sitting at the bar, Roch Siffredi(Delon)storms in and request the lady(Lola) to leave with him, and this results in a fist fight between Capella and Siffredi, and the movie catapults from their first meeting.The movie is well shot even by todays standards, the story is quite complete and will not leave questioning much once it is over. if you can get hold of it, it is definitely worth watching.

I liked this film and became a Belmondo and Delon fan because of it. The story fosters traditional friendship values : Loyalty , affection , and it underwrites pursuit of dreams.

All production values are a little over dramatic , which worked for me given the slightly hammy machismo of the stars. These guys looked like they really are friends off-screen and maybe had a lot of fun making the film. They are a couple of real characters and it shows through. They're better at playing themselves than at acting

Interesting sepia stills for credit backgrounds which predate Butch Cassidy's use of them as nostalgia evocation.

Somewhat typical of foreign films of the period , the continuity was sometimes uneven . But that wasn't particularly disruptive because of the un-complex story line.

Very good movie. I watched the original French version without English subtitles and although I struggled a bit with the language it was easy to follow even though my French is not fluent. What really surprised me is that the ratings for Borsalino so far have not been higher - as far as French gangster movies go I would consider it within my top 5. It is pacey with lots of action and unlike some French movies,I was never bored once watching it. The combination of Jean Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon as Capella and Siffredi worked very well and Michel Bouquet's performance as Rinaldi was also very good. My only criticism of Borasalino was that there were too many female characters linked with Capella and Siffredi and we never really learnt more about them as the story progressed. Otherwise a movie I would recommend.