Mort d'un pourri

A political thriller around a notebook. Murders, secret society, cops , a sort of hero looking for the name of the killer of his friend, crumbs of a romance and a beautiful cast. Corruption and image of justice. Beautiful confrontation between Klaus Kinki and Alain Delon and a young Ornela Mutti. Alain Delon as indestructible Xav , reminding , in some measure, Charles Bronson characters and the bitter end. Maybe, a film for nostalgics because the truths defined by story, present today, in same measure, has another taste. But, sure, delightful.

The doorbell rings twice, then Delon wake up, open the door where his friend a politician come in and tells him that committed a murder to takes a deadly files which was been blackmailed by an assistent having to kill him, that's the opening this fabulous french movie, besides those files contains several powerful politics of a high level of the government, bribery scandals unleashed many bodies along the way, an intricate net of corrupted politicians are in danger under those hot files, even reaching at state department which includes the Minister of justice himself, the police splited in two separate investigating were on relentless pursuit.

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.5

"Death of a Corrupt Man" from 1977 is a French film produced by Alain Delon's company, starring Delon, Ornella Muti, Stephanie Audran, Maurice Ronet, Klaus Kinski, and Delon's companion at that time, Mirelle Darc.

A deputy, Philippe Dubaye (Ronet) gets his old friend Xavier Maréchal (Delon) up in the dead of night. He says he has just killed racketeer, Serrano, who had many political connections. Serrano had proof of Dubaye's involvement in corruption in high places and was ready to use them against him.

Xav agrees to give his friend an alibi, which is not believed by the police. Everyone wants those documents and figure that Xav must have them. There are multiple car chases and attempts on his life and that of Dubaye's girlfriend (Muti).

Good film that is somewhat timely today, with all its talk of politicians stealing, people in government just in it for the money, blackmail, etc. Delon, who in this dubbing sounds like Robert Conrad, is strong in his role, as are Kinski and Audran.

Ornella Muti is positively gorgeous. Mirelle Darc was only in the film because of Delon; her part could have been cut and as it was, she only had a few lines. And how about this - an Alain Delon film with no love scene. Dubbed on top of it, which I hate.

Delon favored this type of role, as evidenced by the films he produced. I saw him later in a documentary done 37 years later. Everyone recognized him, at 81, and wanted a photo with him. He was very obliging.

Terrific cast, lovely score and views of Paris, but Georges Lautner was always a mediocre director and it shows badly here with a very challenging script including many monologues and action scenes (a couple of car chases).

Delon as a producer-actor is always the same type: boring, verging on irritating hyper-cool hyper-straight... a supercharged common man. Since the dozen top actors in the supporting cast are all excellent (despite the pedestrian directing) it does not bog down the movie. But the heavy dialogue about political corruption all-around does put the movie in a merry-go-round that lasts for two hours. Not really my idea of a sharp noir.

The car chases (Rémi Julienne) are well-paced but kind of repetitive. Nice try to have one with trucks but it does not add much to the movie. All in all the 'irremediably corrupt political landscape' subtext is nicely impregnating the whole movie, thanks to Michel Audiard, but it gives a damp movie, like a fine pastry dumped for too long in an alcohol-laced preparation.

"The Death of a Corrupt Man" is an outstanding French thriller with elements of the political and psych thriller, gangster movies and the typical conspiracy films of the seventies. Casted with some of the best European actors of that time - Alain Delon, Ornela Muti, Stephane Audran, Mireille Darc and madman Klaus Kinski - it tells the story of a big conspiracy with a corrupt politician getting rid of all his opponents. Now it's lawyer Alain Delon's turn to fight the power. Of course he's becoming the target of some killers soon, a wild hunt begins where several people lose their lives until Delon finds the real villain. The pacing is fast, the plot twisted and thrilling, and the really good actors and clever direction add much impact to this powerful thriller with some furious action scenes including a great truck chase. If you get a video or DVD copy of that film or find it in your TV guide, watch it!