L'affaire Crazy Capo

Patrick Jamain essentially works from French TV .However ,both his forays into film noir , the William Irishesque "lune de miel" (honeymoon) (1985) and "l'affaire Crazy Capo are unfairly overlooked successful efforts ;their rating on imdb does not reflect their true value and I second the first reviewer.Definitely.

Behind his facade of an estate developer, Dieserens is a godfather ,a drug trafficker who wants to extend his business towards Laos ;he comes up against his old accomplice Marchesi aka Crazy Capo 's refusal ;"make way for tomorrow" cynically says Dieserens ,while watching the children play .The old man has signed his own death warrant and it's his own son who's going to commit this parricide.

Dieserens,masterfully played by Maurice Ronet, is as cold as ice ;he might be gay but the character remains ambiguous ; one thing for sure , a forty-something ,he needs a son to carry on his dirty deeds and he settles on the young son ,who becomes his right-hand man ,much to his older mates' displeasure .

Dieserens' enemy is superintendent Martin (Jean-Pierre Marielle ) ;this cop provides the movie with its low points : his visit to his GP is pointless ,bearing no real relation to the plot ,his failed weekend with the prostitute, pure filler.

Even when he is dead , old Crazy Capo 's shadow hangs over the whole film:don't we learn he used to work as a clown in a circus? (hence his nickname) .And the totally unexpected end packs a real wallop.