O Cobra

Vert good French thriller by Yves Boisset with an Italian style where settling of scores and corruption in Marseille are the ingrediants. Awesome cast les by Jean Yanne, and special US actors Gordon Mitchell as a hitman (impossible not to think of Le coup du Parapluie with Pierre Richard) and especially Sterling Hayden !!

Yves Boisset has always been a director with a political obsession.IN the seventies,he hit his stride with such work as "RAS" ,"Dupont-Lajoie- (which will probably remains his best work- and even "le juge Fayard dit le shériff".Afterward,his filmography became more disparate ,but his ambitions surfaced again in "allons enfants" (1981) and in his excellent made-for-TV "le pantalon "(1997).

"Le saut de l'ange" ,on the other hand ,has almost nothing to recommend it;for the time is was an extremely violent movie, which actually recalls more Boisset's first effort ,"Coplan sauve sa peau" (1967) than his "serious" political films.A far-fetched script,which includes a lot of sadism(a man with his two legs broken given over to a cobra,ouch!), and all kinds of crimes and brutality under a caricature of a police 's faraway eye.No need to say that the political background is quickly forgotten,as the audience follows Yanne's ruthless revenge.

The cast is absurd :the late Yanne, a decorative Senta Berger ,and Sterling Hayden who is completely wasted -he's supposed to be an alcoholic,but we never see him drink anything,not even Perrier -.

Fast-moving, exciting, violent crime thriller which can be considered as the French equivalent of GET CARTER (1971): the sole survivor of a gangland family, living in Bangkok, goes to Marseilles to exact revenge on the perpetrators of his two siblings' murder. Having a military background, he proves incredibly tenacious (unlikely action hero Jean Yanne is terrific in the role).

On his trail is American hit-man Gordon Mitchell (whose accent is hilarious – I'd actually watched bits of this in the past, a scene where he insists that his employer give him "Da Cash", but didn't realize back then it was supposed to be a good film!); aiding Yanne are a couple of agile Vietnamese; following his every move, then, is old pal Sterling Hayden as an FBI agent acting as liaison with the French Police. Hayden and Senta Berger (the only female character of note) as the duplicitous wife of one of Yanne's brothers don't get a lot to do, but their presence – along with that of ex-peplum star Mitchell – adds an offbeat touch to the somewhat familiar proceedings. Francois de Roubaix's evocative score is another major asset.

The action scenes are most skilfully handled – notably Mitchell's death (bitten by a cobra: the film, in fact, is also known as COBRA though it's a reference to Yanne's pistol of choice), an attack on an accomplice by the Asians which starts at his home and reprises in hospital and, best of all, the chief villain's death (a greedy politician who keeps vultures for pets – not very subtle, I know) which is actually quite similar to one of the highlights in GET CARTER (though this comes with its own electric twist). Unsurprisingly, the film supplies no happy ending for any of the protagonists.

I have always craved for nearly all of Yves Boisset's movies; only a couple of them are not interesting. I have too many of one hand fingers to count them. This one is faithfully adapted from a book which I have read. A one book writer. It is full of action, brutal, sadistic, bloody, with no good vs bad guys scheme. No super heroes in this terrific thriller. It is poignant, gloomy. Jean Yanne is excellent in the lead role and the meet between Daniel Ivernel and Sterling Hayden very unlikely indeed. All long his career, Yves Boisset made movies that have astonished me, no matter the topics. He never made comedies anyway.

Boisset was one of the greatest action directors of the 70's in Europe. In this sadly neglected thriller, he exposes a corrupted & rotten political system in Marseille. The focus is put on Louis Orsini (Jean Yanne), an ex mercenary whose family's been entirely murdered for political reasons. He's out to get the responsibles and he evolves with style...

There are several scenes in this movie during which you'll wonder why the hell Boisset is not celebrated the way he should be. All his movies are great, over-the-top action flicks with an edge, in the same vein as Fernando Di Leo flicks or even Umberto Lenzi cop thrillers !

Jean Yanne does a great job here as the wooden faced hero, and Senta Berger is always lovely tho she only has a small part. When are we gonna see movies like this come out on DVD and get the respect they widely deserve ?