Criminal Face - Storia di un criminale

François Holin (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is small time mob driver who wears a collection of smart ties . Problems emerge when he is detained and incarcerated at a State Penitentiary . Once being freed he goes on his criminal career , but he quest for respect and some fateful choices lead him to be a notorious gangster , as newspapers publicize : Francois Holin is a mix between Arsenio Lupin and Al Capone . He is reduced to chaffeuring for a gang of stealers who simply call him Ho . Along the way, his only interests in life are a beautiful cover girl (Joanna Shimkus as a gorgeous society woman , a bit later on , she married Sidney Poitier) and his relationship to a journalist (Paul Crauchet) .

A badly dubbed movie from the time in which Belmondo was a great star and he could churn out whatever film and getting a big success . Here he performs a small time mob driver who subsequently turns into a known mobster . Based on the own novel by prestigious José Giovanni , though he was not satisfied with this rendition . Jean-Paul delivers his usual acting in Belmondo style , playing a disgraced former racing driver who quest for respect . Breakthrough Belmondo big hit in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless(1960) made him one of the key figures in the French New Wave. Since mid-60s he completely switched to commercial mainstream pictures and became a big comedy and action star in France and still clean up the Frenk box office . As he played a lot of big hit movies , such as : Is Paris burning ? , Two women , Le professional , Le magnifique , The brain , The man from Rio , Cartouche , Pierre Le Fou , Love and the Frenchwoman , Stuntwoman , Stavisky , Borsalino , High heels , Les Miserables , among others . Following the example of Alain Delon he founded his own production company Cerito named after his grandmother's maiden name. In 1989 he was awarded Cesar for his performance in Itinerary of a spoiled child (1988) . Recently he returned to stage performing in the Theatre Marigny in Paris. He still appears in the movies but not so often as before preferring mostly dramatic roles. The president of France distinguished him with order of Legion of Honour.

It displays an atmospheric musical score by piano , performed and composed by Francois de Roubaix , in his ordinary style . As well as an evocative cinematography by Jean Boffety . The motion picture was regularly directed by by Robert Enrico . Robert enrolled in the famous film school IDHEC where he specialized in editing and directing. From 1956 to 1959 he did his military service within the Service Cinématographique des Armées. His shorts gave him critical acclaim very early in his career. Having become the maker of popular movies after an arty debut, he was awarded the best movie "César" for "Le vieux Fusil" before becoming the long-time president of "L'Académie des Césars". Enrico was a good professional who directed interesting films as ¨Jailsbird vacation¨ , ¨Rum Runners¨, ¨The wise guys¨ and his masterpiece ¨The adventurers¨ and of course ¨The old fusil¨ . Rating : 5/10 , so-so and average . The film will appeal to French cinema lovers , but only for Belmondo fans .

No wonder José Giovanni was not satisfied with the adaptation of his own novel. Joanna Shimkus is a woman of rare beauty. Jean-Paul Belmondo is a great actor and stuntman of exception. Robert Enrico, in his turn, is a very good director, he made cool movies like The Last Adventure (1967) Les aventuriers (original title) or The Old Gun (1975) Le vieux fusil (original title). Not this "Ho!", which is a failure.

The year before,Robert Enrico had released his best film ever:"les aventuriers".Its follow-up "Tante Zita " was one of his most personal movies ,but also his least accessible work ."Ho" was a major disappointment.Third film featuring Johanna Shimkus ,it's by far the weakest link of the "trilogy".Far from the wonderful Leatitia in "les aventuriers" and the maiden who had to cope with death in "Tante Zita" ,Shimkus 's part is so thin here it's reduced to a decorative walk on.It's Belmondo who gets the lion 's share here.He portrays a race driver who has lost his membership card (like Delon's pilot Manu had lost his in "les aventuriers").So he has become the chauffeur of a gangsters pack ,a very humiliating situation.Good start,but disastrous screenplay ,never rising over routine cops and robbers genre.Stick with "les aventuriers" .

Robert Enrico was an average director who happened to direct good scripts with a strong cast (Les Aventuriers, Le Vieux Fusil), and wonderful scores by his friend François de Roubaix too.

Ho! has an interesting premise: a loser-driver wants to prove to his bosses he can be a real elegant/tough/mastermind gangster. The exposition at the beginning of the movie is quite good then, but they added a flashback before that to tell the backstory of "5 years before" which is cheap and useless.

The main problem is the script doesn't build a consistent character arc. Belmondo is a good low-profile dummy in the beginning, then he rapidly switches to an enterprising 'Bébel' quite sure and full of himself. This simply doesn't work: it is a major directorial failure. The love affair with a top model (Johanna Shimkus) doesn't help to stir Ho away from Belmondo's stock light-hearted philanderer. Then again the script doesn't rise above routine crime situations. In the end you've got an awkward character (the irritatingly comical bébel of Tendre Voyou) in a poor film noir story. The screenwriters here could have learnt a bit from Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo, and how to credibly grow your hero from a naive young man into a relentless adult.

I am no fan of Drive and I must say it was disheartening to see so many people love it, but yes, Ryan Gosling's character was more consistent (yet blandly so), the love interest fitted the character's arc instead of bugging the narration and there was a real fatalistic storyline. Plus the director had style (too much IMO) whereas style is limited to Mr Belmondo's ties and suits in Ho!