Calibre Python 357

An excellent movie about two cops loving the same woman. One of the cop (Périer) killed her, but all the evidences seems to incriminate the other (Montand). The unlucky Montand doesnt know who is the other lover that could have killed her, and Périer doesnt know either that Montand had an affair with the girl. Montand must absolutely find the killer...and what a great ending! Highly recommended.

The 'inside' joke here is that Yves Montand wears throughout the same jacket the Clint Eastwood wore as 'Dirty Harry'. This could have backfired badly had this movie laid an egg but as it turned out it is one of both the director and his leading actor's best efforts. No one writes in a vacuum, of course, and those with long memories will recall Charles Laughton asking Ray Milland to investigate a murder that he (Laughton) himself had committed and then making Milland the patsy. This in turn was echoed in Orson Welles' "Mr. Arkadin". No matter, we can always use one more outstanding thriller and this one fits the bill to a tee shirt or, if you will, jacket. Montand scores heavily, as you would expect, as the cop who is unaware that his boss is sleeping with his (Montand's) girl friend. When, one night, a quarrel ends in tears the boss, also unaware that he shares a lover with his best detective, assigns Montand to the case, and the fascination lies in seeing Montand peeling the onion that will lead to himself (he had gone to call on his girl friend, unaware that she had been killed and left, natch, clues to his visit). Montand's real-life wife, the great Simone Signoret, turns in a fine cameo as the wife of the police chief and the poignant scene where she asks Montand's help in shooting herself is not only a highlight but to those aware of the on-set drama surrounding the scene (Signoret had enormous difficulty in going thru with it)a fitting remembrance of one of the all-time great French actresses. A feast for Montand fans.

At his time, at least, Alain Corneau was guessed to fill the empty place that Jean Pierre Melville left in the French crime films genre. He was promising with this movie, and soon after with SERIE NOIRE and LE CHOIX DES ARMES. But after those, Corneau seemed to have chosen something else than crime movies. He will resume this genre with LE MOME - 1986- and LE COUSIN - 1997. His before last movie LE DEUXIEME SOUFFLE remake - a real assumed tribute to Melville's cinema - will be his best work for me. Back to this one, the plot is however far fom Melville's atmosphere but strong, with a powerful Yves Montand's character. The character study is the most important element of this tremendous French crime movie. But it is strange to call this feature with the name of a weapon - but Olivier Marchal did it too with MR 73, maybe a tribute to POLICE PYTHON 357 - as if it was an action film - which is not, except of course in the last scene, the DIRTY HARRY link - because this is a pure suspense thriller with a very unusual plot. A young woman is killed by a police superintendant - her lover - who leads the investigation, and another lover of hers, also a cop, the second in charge of the investigation, who tries his best to spoil the investigation, without knowing his superintendant is the murderer.... So no one of them knows the other was the second lover of the young victim. That's absolutely unique, great!!! It could be a South Korean crime film, complex but riveting. It's surprising that this movie has not been remade since 1976.

Finally a film that will have you gripped to your seat till the end, and yet which is neither melodramatic nor manipulative. Great cinematography and music and of course, the cast, let alone a tight plot make this film a must-see. From the always reborn love triangle, the story develops with the right timing, faster than your average French film, and yet without anything of the Hollywood clichés that usually ruin everything. Signoret is lovable as the handicapped wife who nevertheless seems to always know everything. "dbdumonteil" on IMDb is right on track about the depersonalisation, thus adding another layer of interpretation to an already engrossing flick. I agree with "Olof" reviewer on Amazon that "Alain Corneau didn't exploit Stefania Sandrelli's scene stealing abilities", thou.

I am still wondering why Inspector Ménard does... what he does (can't say more), but my only hunch is that "violence redeems sins". I am open to hearing from other reviewers, as I can't make up my mind about his change of attitude. Of course, the fact that a film 25 years old can leave you thinking after it's over is yet another reason why you might enjoy this movie.

Great screenplay and some of the best actors the world has ever produced. Montand gives the concept of the 'lone wolf' police detective a whole new dimension of intensity and, most importantly, credibility.

When a typical Hollywood cop-heroe loses family, friends and pets to murder he is usually given his minute of grief. But when the sixty seconds are over, he pulls himself together, packs his gun and goes gleefully shooting up his enemies one by one.

Montand's Marc Ferrot, however, is really devastated - by his girlfriends murder, of course, but also by finding out that she had another lover.In his confusion and wrath he does not seek revenge but needs to keep going to find the real perpetrator of a crime where his fingerprints are all over the scene. Thus all his actions become unescapably logical. This is the main reason why this movie glues us to our seats but definetely not the only one.