L'alpagueur

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.

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.

Just from the way the pre-credit sequence is shot, the introduction of Jean-Paul Belmondo and the super soundtrack, it is clear this is going to be fun. There are one or two far fetched elements but who cares, when the entertainment is this good? We are swept along from the very start with a cash pick up we learn about afterwards and before we can be certain a robbery is under way and there are already some half dozen people shot. I chose to watch this in the English dub and it was fine with Belmondo shining through. He is ably supported all round and though there is no female participation things never stop. there is time too for some humour and yes, that soundtrack is spot on. Excellent stuff.

Good solid action for a Belmondo in great shape! Bruno Cremer is very convincing as well as a coldblooded killer using lost youth to help him carrying out his crimes. It's a very entertaining and fun to watch movie, with a very nice musical score.