Les Tueurs de San Francisco

I suppose I like the cast better than the film, itself. Heflin, Palance, Ann-Margret, Chandler, and Delon are all watchable.

This may very well be Chandler's finest performance (and he was always good at playing bad guys).

The story is one we've all seen before, many times, yet the cast makes it worth watching. Ann-Margret might not have been as good as she could have been, but she's not really that bad.

Even the scenes involving the little girl work well, and the chemistry between she and Delon is exceptional.

The surprise ending is tense and exciting. Too bad there's no DVD of this film. I'd buy it.

Johnboy

It is such a shame that Alain Delon did not continue in the USA, except SCORPIO and a couple of western, comedy oriented stuff - I won't speak of RED SUN, not really American. But on the other hand, that would have meant less masterpieces in France with him...But here the adaptation of John Trinian's book is tremendous, jaw dropping, and the cast exceptional. It is tense, riveting, terrific for any noir lovers. I love for the characters symphony, Delon absolutely terrific, not less than Heflin nor Palance. And the John Davis Chandler as a nasty villain, announces his role in MAJOR DUNDEE, shot the same year. My Ralph Nelson's favourite, besides REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT. I have often thought that this crime drama was made by Mark Robson, I don't know why.

Around this time French film star Alain Delon was trying to broaden his appeal internationally by doing some American films. He did a whole lot better with this than with Texas Across The River.

Delon is a former crook trying to go straight as he has a wife Ann-Margret and a small daughter. Not easy because a San Francisco detective Van Heflin is looking to put him away any way he can. This was before the Miranda decision and Heflin is ruthless in what he tries to do.

Delon might be able to resist Heflin, but when his older brother Jack Palance calls it becomes too much. Palance is a big time operator and planner and has a big score lined up. He also has part of a crew as well, the none too bright Tony Musante and the psychotic John Davis Chandler.

There is such an air of tragedy around Delon that I've seen in very few other films. No matter what he does he has a destiny he can't escape.

Ann-Margret sheds her sex kitten image and turns in a great performance as a wife and mother fighting for her man and marriage against the fates. Too bad the public didn't want to see her in serious stuff like Once A Thief.

This one's a keeper and a sleeper. It should be watched and become better known.

The plot is threadbare, the principals don't really look the part, the pace is much too slow, but this film still has some points of interest.

First, the location work. Plenty of San Francisco footage, though much of it at night (this is film noir, after all). The city looks different now, but many of the setups are in areas that haven't changed too much.

Then there's Anne-Margret, still in her sex-kitten stage but trying hard to break out of it. She's really not up to the mommy part, though she gives it a good try. Her character is about the only sympathetic one in the film, save . . .

Van Heflin's. I've always liked him. He's pretty good as the cop who hounds Delon, though he won't pass for Italian any day of the week, or will Delon, for that matter. It's interesting to contrast this detective with Steve McQueen's Frank Bullit or Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan. They're all SFPD and only a few years separate their stories, but Heflin's Mike Vido is from another world. Wait until you see who he lives with.

And then there's John David Chandler's homicidal homosexual-child molester, a really nasty characterization you won't encounter today and not often then. Oh yes, he's also a sadist.

Finally, there's Jack Palance's equal opportunity crew: two Italians (though I think their surname is Croatian), a Jew, a Greek, and a Chinese undertaker. Somehow they pull off the heist, though just barely.

Recommended if you enjoy hard-core noir, Anne-Margret, or Heflin, otherwise steer clear.

Lets face it. The 'film-noir' period was already over its peak and as good as death already in 1965, when this movie was released. This movie is a late attempt to revive the film-noir genre, with some big names involved. They partly succeeded. The movie works quite well as a crime/thriller movie but it lacks the certain style, characters and subtle style of film-making to consider this movie a good attempt at the film-noir genre.

All of the classic ingredients are present here but everything doesn't always connect very well. Some of the story lines are underdeveloped and it often leaves more questions than answers. I still don't fully understand what the point was of the robbery/killing in the beginning of the movie. Some of the events in the movie feel silly but it luckily doesn't make the movie any less pleasant to watch. So even though everything in the movie is far from flawless it still is a good enough crime/thriller to watch.

The main plot line isn't anything too terribly exciting but it's told in a good way. Director Ralph Nelson brought the standard and thin story well to the screen and even manages to make the movie look exciting, thrilling and surprising.

The musical score by Lalo Schifrin is quite odd but its suits the movie very well and therefor I liked it.

The characters and cast are good and interesting. OK so Alain Delon might not be the best leading man but the supporting cast certainly compensates for this. Ann-Margret shows she is a great actress although she mainly only does some screaming and crying in this movie. It gets a bit too much after a while. Van Heflin and Jack Palance were also great and John Davis Chandler beautifully plays a ruthless villainous looking villain. He absolutely stole the show in most of the sequences he was present in.

A good enough crime/thriller that deserves to be seen.

7/10

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