A Morte de um Matador

Robert Hossein (who also directs) stars as Pierre Massa, an ex-con just released from prison after serving five years for armed robbery. He hooks up with a couple of former gang members and together they try to find out who betrayed him to the cops a half-decade ago. Massa's convinced it was his former best friend who's since shacked up with the ex-con's sister but the couple insist it isn't so -and while Massa's been following his former buddy, someone's been shadowing him...

Risk-taking Robert Hossein's strange and stylized crime thriller is structured along the lines of Robert Siodmak's CRISS CROSS with its voice-over narration and flashbacks to an armored car robbery gone wrong. The excellent use of Paris (?) locations gradually takes a back seat to the increasingly surreal goings on once Massa meets his sister's doppleganger (Marie-France Pisier in a dual role) and has sex with her. It's a nihilistic noir that aspires to the poetic and although the film doesn't quite succeed on that level, it's involving, nonetheless. Hossein's dad André composed the jazzy score.

The basic premise is simple, and so is the plot, but it unfolds step by step in a way that keeps the film nicely paced throughout its short running time. Basically it's about a gangster (played by Robert Hussein's stoic self) who, after being released from prison, seeks vengeance on his former best friend who he blames for his incarceration and who also appears to have taken off with his sister (Marie-France Pisier) while he served his sentence, a sister which the gangster probably loves a bit more than a brother should. As you can probably tell by the title 'La mort d'un tueur' (Death of a Killer) doesn't go for big surprises, instead it's the elegant and stylish manner in which this very familiar genre material is executed that takes center stage in this melancholic crime thriller.

I found it quite amazing in its simplicity because it provides so much clarity without requiring much dialogue. It probably won't rock anyone's world, there isn't really any substance to it and like me you'll probably have seen it all before but all the elements are put together to great effect and it's achieved on apparently a very small budget. Probably what IS remarkable is how very Leonesque the film is given that it was made before it could have possibly been influenced by Leone ('A Fistful of Dollars' came out later the same year), I had already found Hossein's "Exterminating Angel"/"Marienbad"/murder mystery mix 'Le jeu de la vérité' quite Leonesque and that film came out in 1961.

Also there are quite a few flashbacks that are more or less montages with music playing over them and employing voice-over narration instead of using the scenes' actual sounds and hearing the characters in the flashbacks speak which I can't really remember seeing in an earlier film than this one although I'm probably just not thinking hard enough. Anyway, it's pretty much a gangster flick with spaghetti western flair which is probably why I was often reminded of the films of the great Hong Kong action filmmaker Johnny To. If, like me, you are no stranger to the simple joys of watching three gangsters in suits walk in formation accompanied by cool jazzy music this little gem comes highly recommended to you.

Although he is known as an actor,Robert Hossein was a fine film noir director .His "toi le venin" should appeal to people who enjoyed De Palma's "sisters" (1973).

"Mort d'un tueur" takes a hackneyed screenplay and brilliantly succeeds in surprising.Only the middle part ,with strip tease scenes ,seems irrelevant padding.

A gangster,who was given away to the Police,returns home to take his vengeance.Blending elements from Hawks's "Scarface" (the man actually in love with his sister who loves one of his accomplices) and Duvivier's "Pépé le Moko" (the alleys ,the tragic ending) ,and adding a suspenseful scene in an arena where the two men play Russian roulette,in front of the whole city underworld ,Hossein made a black and white little gem,where ambiguity is not absent.The flashbacks are smartly included in the plot,and present and past seem to meet when ,once again,the hero is given away..

I am not exactly a fan of Robert Hossein, whose ambitions eventually proved too high for his real skill, but I admit that this brief "film noir", fit for a dull August TV afternoon, is very well done, with special compliments for the musio, composed by RH's father, André. The only thing I regret is that the generique doesn't give any name of the jazz musicians playing backstage, with high compliments for the drummer. It is also with a certain nostalgia that I recognized the late Robert Dalban - and Jean Lefebvre - at their debuts.The lovely and remarkable Marie-France Pisier is still active - both sides of the screen - and hasn't much changed after 43 years. harry carasso, Paris, France