L'alpagueur

Philippe Labro is a director who studied in the US.He has always thought he was born to give an American touch to his works:but it's wishful thinking ;his most satisfying works remain his early efforts :"Tout Peut Arriver" and "Sans Mobile Apparent",the latter based on an Ed MCBain thriller ;when he writes his own material ,it spawns the horribly pretentious "philosophical " "Le Hasard Et La Violence".His other screenplays are not better.

"L'Alpagueur" is some kind of follow-up to "L'Heritier ",both works featuring Belmondo as Belmondo ;in both , the "hero" in untroduced by a voice over who tells us,should we have doubts about it,that we deal here with an iron man, an undefeated superman .

The screenplay is patchy ,inconsistent ,and seems to have been written in a slapdash manner ;Belmondo 's face is deadpan,only wearing a smug smile , and he always wins ,so do not expect any suspense .On the other hand, Bruno Cremer ,as the ruthless cold killer ("the sparrowhawk") is able to give the jitters ,and had he been well directed -and had the screenply been more focussed on him- ,he could have provided a poor thriller with an interesting character.

The last scene , which comes at the most awkward moment ,is almost a "Goldfinger " rip -off.

Word to the wise : choose Verneuil's "Peur Sur La Ville" if you want to see an effective Belmondo- versus- killer movie.

That's the only film, as far as I know, which offers a tribute to both Jean Pierre Melville - a Philippe Labro's close friend, with whom he died in August1973 - and also the great and unique Sam Peckinpah. It's so obvious for me, who is the die hard fan of both directors, my all times favourite, here reunited in a tribute to them. Tribute thru many details, for instance Bruno Cremer who says : "Coco", it's a tribute to Melville who said this to his close pals, such as Labro. The character presentation and symphony is also very close to Melville's spirit. Now, concerning Peckinpah, action sequences, slow motion excepted, is also a tribute to the great Sam. The final face to face between Cremer and Belmondo is also closer to Melville than Peckinpah. A real must see, when Belmondo was at his peak.

This movie from 1975 is maybe the best Belmondo action thriller. He plays the headhunter Roger Pillard who is hired by the police to catch "the beast", a robber that no one can identify because he kills all witnesses. Then it happens that a robbery goes wrong and a witness survives ...

The screenplay is full of ideas with subplots and a lot of surprising twists. The subplots are well integrated in the story and do not disturb the main plot. Bruno Cremer as the beast is perfectly casted as the counter player.

Recommended.

A good thriller, with a very good cast and Belmondo at his best. Excellent photography, and everything you may wish, but a very important thing is missing: How did Belmondo identify the criminal? Nothing is explained. He just happens to find him, and we are not part of the secret. It is a pity, for the picture was doing well, and is very entertaining. But the rating of 8 went down to 6 in the two or three last minutes. The French are good at this type of thing, and Belmondo excels. But in this case they committed the unpardonable sin.

To answer to the previous comment: finding a person knowing where he lives is quiet easy. A name on the mail box, any letter or paper in his home will give his identity. Belmondo is in the villain's house alone. OK, they could show us, but we can imagine.

What I think is worse in the story is that the "Epervier" would NEVER have let live the young man who helps him in the jewelry robbery. He kills everyone, except this young man, leaving him only injured. It's nonsense, this particular villain could not do that. He was not in such a hurry, he takes time to kill the two cops and doesn't take the time to shoot the kid! And also it's using a very bad facility in the scenario than to just make this young man, the only one the "Epervier" let live knew exactly who he was and where he lived...

I think the scenario would have been better if either the story was only between the Alpagueur and the Epervier OR between the Alpagueur and the Prison story. Two stories in the same movie makes one of them writtent quickly. I would have loved to see the Epervier character a little more explained, this was an interesting character that was underused in the movie and lost for another scenario.