Un homme est mort

This dramatic fast pace triller was written by Jean-Claude Carriere and directed by Jacques Derey. It tells the story of Frenchman Lucien Bellon (Jean-Louis Trintignant) a man deeply in debt with the French mob. To settle accounts he agrees to travel to America with the sole task of assassinating a high powered Mob Boss. The assignment goes according to plan with one snag, upon completing his task he discovers he has been targeted by Lenny (Roy Scheider) an American hit man. There are plenty of speedy shootings and get-aways with interesting and secretive meetings which keeps the audience guessing as to who the Bad guys are. Eye candy is provided by beautiful and seductive Ann-Margret and sultry Angie Dickinson. The movie is interesting in that perennial Good guy Roy Scheider plays the heavy and Felice Orlandi nearly always a heavy, plays Anderson a cop. Good entertainment. ****

Very low key actioner with sprinkles of offbeat humor. French hit man does a job only to find the roles are reversed and he is now the target of another hit man. Trintignant is well cast as a man not only confused with his unusual predicament, but also with southern California culture. There's been many, many films done in Los Angeles, but the excellent location shooting seems to show you a whole new city. Although the film stays very true to it's unique form the downbeat ending could've and should've been avoided. Georgia Engle is a delight as a dumb housewife.

French star Jean-Louis Trintignant ("The Great Silence") plays Lucien Bellon, a French hitman who comes to L. A. to assassinate American mobster Victor (Ted de Corsia, "The Killing"). But soon Lucien is dodging attempts on his *own* life, thanks to a *relentless* - if not that competent - American hitman, Lenny (Roy Scheider, "The French Connection"). The only help that Lucien really gets is from Nancy Robson (Ann-Margret, "Carnal Knowledge"), the boss at a topless bar.

Directed with a true European sensibility by Jacques Deray ("He Died with His Eyes Open"), "The Outside Man" a.k.a. "Un Homme Est Mort" is good fun for lovers of crime fiction. Deray makes it a hard-to-resist combination of an offbeat approach, some very amusing doses of comedy, interesting choices (the final gunfight takes place in a funeral home, where Victor has been embalmed in a sitting position), a fairly relaxed tone most of the time, and an unhurried pace. The funky score by Michel Legrand is a delight, as is the use of various L. A. locations.

Trintignant is very good in the lead, playing this "outsider" who's lost amidst Southern California culture of the period. Ann-Margret, looking very sexy in low-cut dresses, is enticing as his reluctant associate. Scheider is a hoot as the determined rival hitman. Georgia Engel ('The Mary Tyler Moore Show') is hilarious as a ditzy housewife. The eclectic supporting cast also includes the wonderful Angie Dickinson ("Big Bad Mama"), Felice Orlandi ("The Driver"), Carlo De Mejo ("The House by the Cemetery"), Michel Constantin ("Le Deuxieme Souffle"), Umberto Orsini ("Goodbye Emmanuelle"), Carmen Argenziano ("The Accused"), John Hillerman ("Blazing Saddles"), Jon Korkes ("Catch-22"), Playboy Playmate Connie Kreski ("The Black Bird"), Ben Piazza ("The Candy Snatchers"), Alex Rocco and Talia Shire from "The Godfather", and a very young Jackie Earle Haley ("Watchmen"), making his film debut.

Overall, this made for very agreeable entertainment; I didn't even really have a problem with the way it ended, although others may certainly feel differently.

Seven out of 10.

Bizarre mixture of elements: character study, romance, crime melodrama and action flick. Terrifically filmed on vivid Los Angeles locales by a French director and crew, story follows foreign hit-man on assignment in L.A. being tracked down and targeted for death. Some of the characters here are delicious: Jean-Louis Trintigant is super-cool as the French gunman, Roy Scheider is his nemesis, Ann-Margret sad and desperate as a former flame of Trintigant's boss, Angie Dickinson as the cheating wife of a Bel Air crime czar, Georgia Engel as an innocent housewife who manages to get involved. Subtle--some may say somnambulant--thriller, less frenetic than most American pictures in the crime genre, with emphasis on character detail and emotion. Unusual and worth-watching. **1/2 from ****

A French hitman, Jean Louis Trintigant, is hired to kill a Los Angeles mobster. After carrying out his assignment, the Frenchman becomes the hunted, with Detroit hitman, Roy Scheider relentlessly in pursuit. The cast is very game, and includes Ann Margaret, Angie Dickinson, Alex Rocco, and Talia Shire in a small role. Eventually things start to crystalize as to the "why", and the Frenchman begins to turn the tables. Jean Louis Trintigant takes some getting used to as the sort of anti hero. His performance is extremely low key, which tends to cause the story to lose momentum at times. Nevertheless, the unpredictable script, superb Los Angeles photography, and skilled acting keeps "The Outside Man" interesting. - MERK