Le marginal

For me this movie seems a little chaotic, it mostly jumps from scene to scene and doesn't follow theme line very accurately. Still, it's entertaining movie for action or cop movie fans. At time of original release this was an excellent action film, but for time being action movies are at totally new level. Therefore don't expect too much. This movie has some good points thought. First of all, we see very good starting actor, young Tchéky Karyo here. Second, for car fans there is a car chase scene with Ford Mustang. Third, Belmondo makes his own stunts. Quite interesting is also to watch the first orange bullet train speeding in France! It's a little nostalgic to see this movie. I would say that after every 15 years or so, it is fun to see it again

This film is a guilty pleasure. It is by no means a very good film but it works. You get straight into the action when Belmondo's tough guy cop is sent from Paris to clean up Marseilles with his very unconventional methods. They backfire and he is put on the backburner. However, in a good cop movie, the cop never lets go. The story is rather pointless (and funnily enough a lot of villians in 80s Belmondo films have the same name) but the action works really well. Henry Silva as the villain makes the film stand out from the rest. And watch out for the red Fiat 131 that was used in every film Belmondo made in the 80s.

Just as Jean-Paul Belmondo's THE PROFESSIONAL (1981) recalled the Charles Bronson 'loner' action vehicles, this one evokes memories of Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" cop shows…which, by extension, connects it to the Italian poliziotteschi – of which the American co-star of THE OUTSIDER, Henry Silva, was a regular! Anyway, Belmondo is a maverick cop up against drug kingpin Silva: he intercepts a consignment of heroin (chasing the speedboat transporting it via helicopter), but the criminal's influence with city officials gets him transferred from Marseille to a low-life district! As was the case with the earlier film, the credits take care to establish the fact that the ageing star performed his own (often dangerous) stunts; in fact, every fifteen minutes or so, he's seen getting into a scuffle, a chase or a shoot-out – without necessarily advancing the main plot.

Still, in spite of the protagonist's superficial nonchalance, he's shown to have a heart: befriending a hooker, saving a convict's teenage daughter from life as a junkie, and paternally overseeing the 'legitimate' activity of a young small-time crook; when the latter opposes Silva's offer of 'protection' and winds up dead, the conflict between policeman and racketeer becomes a personal one. Mind you, the overall handling is anything but subtle – and blatantly commercial (why else would we be treated to the excess of sleaze on display, including an irrelevant excursion at a gay club?)! The film features another Ennio Morricone score which virtually hinges on a single catchy riff, though it's not quite as haunting as his work on THE PROFESSIONAL. The R2 DVD I rented also featured an Audio Commentary by director Deray which was, unfortunately, unsubtitled and enticing theatrical trailers for two other films Belmondo made for director Philippe De Broca, LE MAGNIFIQUE (1973) and L'INCORRIGIBLE (1975).

Belmondo is a tough cop. He goes after a big-time drug dealer (played by Henry Silva, normally a great villain - see "Sharky's Machine"; but here he is clearly dubbed, and because of that he lacks his usual charisma). He goes to the scuzziest places of Paris and Marseilles, asks for some names, beats up some people, gets the names, goes to more scuzzy places, asks for more names, beats up more people, etc. The whole movie is punch after punch after punch. It seems that the people who made it had no other ambition than to create the French equivalent of "Dirty Harry". Belmondo, who was 50 here, does perform some good stunts at the beginning; apart from those, "Le Marginal" is a violent, episodic, trite, shallow and forgettable cop movie. (*1/2)

This is master-piece, one of the best movies I've ever seen. Belmondo is excellent, and Tcheky Karyo, of course. Music of Ennio Morricone is so beautiful that you can't describe it (it reminds me on music in movie "Frantic" by Polanski, where Morricone also made music). This one of the best detective movies, ever shoot in the world cinematography, of course with "The French Connection". You have to watch it.