Le marginal

This is really nothing very special but tells its story efficiently enough and is packed with action. Some time after about the halfway mark, I began to get a little restless as we went through yet another rather predictable punch up but then the film changes gear and we are off to a laid back but pleasing denouement. Belmondo is great throughout, aged 50 at the time and if he really did do all those stunts as we are told it is remarkable. What with crossing motorways and dodging the traffic and leaping out of trains and a helicopter and the impressive Paris car chase, this is one massive performance and still remaining his iconic self with that twinkle in the eye. Henry Silva, five years older than Belmondo has less to do but still helps give the film its gravitas. The Morricone score is fine and even sounds really 80's at times, although I'm not sure that's a good thing. Plenty of attractive location shooting in both Marseille and Paris and plenty also of pretty girls along the way. Nothing profound here but a well made and tough action movie.

With Belmondo as with many of the things that matter, either you love him or you don't. I do, and it comes in the family, so be forewarned :).

There are films that demand not to be analyzed. This is one. Belmondo is a cop who behaves like a gangster to, well, get the gangsters behind bars. His code of ethics wouldn't win medals in any police academy, even a Third World's. Speaking of which, the way we see Marseille, it could well be Turkey or Bolivia :). Facts are not stylized, our hero kills and fails to be killed just by chance. You feel the danger, for instance, when he gets into a squatter's den in order to rescue the daughter of somebody whom he put into jail. He's a hardened man, always with a good blunt answer: "You should have thought about this before!" is what he says to this man when he moans that his daughter has been caught by this delinquents. But then, he gets the victim out of trouble, from an environment that makes his real "nemesis" look less menacing.

Morricone's score doesn't disappoint, as usual. "Beautiful, elegant, tense, suffocating and full of melodrama" (written by Paul Werkmeister "miser42" on Amazon).

It's difficult not to compare this to the masterwork of the genre: THE PROFESSIONAL. While it remains at the top, this would make a great 2nd best, specially if you don't want to get emotional at the end.

Pierre Vernier makes a great if unusual (and thus, welcome) sidekick. Like Jordan, sometimes he doesn't need to utter a word to answer. Henry Silva is finely cast.

Enjoy!

This is master-piece, one of the best movies I've ever seen. Belmondo is excellent, and Tcheky Karyo, of course. Music of Ennio Morricone is so beautiful that you can't describe it (it reminds me on music in movie "Frantic" by Polanski, where Morricone also made music). This one of the best detective movies, ever shoot in the world cinematography, of course with "The French Connection". You have to watch it.

Belmondo is a tough cop. He goes after a big-time drug dealer (played by Henry Silva, normally a great villain - see "Sharky's Machine"; but here he is clearly dubbed, and because of that he lacks his usual charisma). He goes to the scuzziest places of Paris and Marseilles, asks for some names, beats up some people, gets the names, goes to more scuzzy places, asks for more names, beats up more people, etc. The whole movie is punch after punch after punch. It seems that the people who made it had no other ambition than to create the French equivalent of "Dirty Harry". Belmondo, who was 50 here, does perform some good stunts at the beginning; apart from those, "Le Marginal" is a violent, episodic, trite, shallow and forgettable cop movie. (*1/2)

For me this movie seems a little chaotic, it mostly jumps from scene to scene and doesn't follow theme line very accurately. Still, it's entertaining movie for action or cop movie fans. At time of original release this was an excellent action film, but for time being action movies are at totally new level. Therefore don't expect too much. This movie has some good points thought. First of all, we see very good starting actor, young Tchéky Karyo here. Second, for car fans there is a car chase scene with Ford Mustang. Third, Belmondo makes his own stunts. Quite interesting is also to watch the first orange bullet train speeding in France! It's a little nostalgic to see this movie. I would say that after every 15 years or so, it is fun to see it again