Le fauve est lâché

Going from good to very good, LE FAUVE EST LÂCHÉ is a winner in the annals of French Noir. The movie starts with a familiar theme: former crook, now with a normal, happy family, is pulled back into his old life of crime on a dangerous mission. As Paul Lamiani, Lino Ventura has an early starring role and he excels at all times, as does Paul Frankeur, as Raymond, kind of a latter-day Jean Gabin in appearance and acting style. But really, the whole cast is superlative, even Paul's very young son.

As Paul reluctantly enters the sinister scenario, complications quickly arise. There's plenty of action in the first half, but it's what comes afterward that makes the film memorable. Director Maurice Labro reportedly didn't like Ventura and left the production midway so his assistant, future master film-maker Claude Sautet, took over. Filmed in and around the rocky coast of Étretat in France, there is some rip-snorting action to enjoy, as well as character duplicity and other good stuff. This qualifies as Noir thanks to the untenable situation Paul is forced into and the ensuing dangers he must endure.

But only them.This is routine spy thriller with a vague story of stolen documents which Ventura must recover.He was a former gangster ,then he redeemed himself during WW2, among the Resistance,but the cops want him back again and they cook him up..Hardly believable for a former resistant!But he's got to obey and the plot will involve violence ,murder,child abduction,betrayals and the whole shebang . The female lead,Estella Blain,who passed away during the eighties,was Bardot style ,as a whole lot of actresses of the era.Frédéric Dard helped for the screenplay but it was not among his best work;so did Claude Sautet who would become a renowned director in the seventies.(les choses de la vie;Vincent,François,Paul et les autres)

This is a very effective French spy thriller set in the underworld milieu of "Touchez pas au grisbi", where a code of honour can mean more than a handful of cash. Lino Ventura plays an ex-gangster who became a hero of the Resistance and who's now settled down (so he thinks) for a quiet life with his family in the restaurant business. But the French secret service need him for one more mission, and when he refuses they frame him and set up his escape from the police (the "good guys" in this movie are almost as underhand and contemptible in their methods as the gangsters).

It turns out his assignment is to spy on an old wartime buddy who may be trading in secret documents, so pretty soon he's caught between his loyalty to a friend, the secret service who expect him to complete his mission, and the ruthless gang who want the documents at all costs. Add to the mix a two-timing blonde (Estella Blain) and you're in business...

The fast pace of the story and the physicality of Ventura's performance (he was a former boxer) give the film a great sense of energy. Even when he isn't punching his way through a roomful of armed thugs, Ventura is like a coiled spring, and it's hard to take your eyes off him (sensibly, the scenes where he's off-screen are kept to a minimum). In many of his subsequent movies, Ventura's physical power is implied rather than directly shown; here, it's all on the screen, and when his family is threatened the full meaning of the title "The Beast Is Loose" becomes apparent...