Le Samouraï

Le Samouraï
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jean-Pierre Melville
Written by	Jean-Pierre Melville
Story by	Jean-Pierre Melville
Produced by	Eugène Lépicier
Starring	Alain Delon François Périer Nathalie Delon Cathy Rosier
Cinematography	Henri Decaë
Edited by	Monique Bonnot Yo Maurette
Music by	François de Roubaix
Production companies	Filmel Compagnie Industrielle et Commerciale Cinématograp Fida Cinematografica[1]
Release date	25 October 1967 (1967-10-25)
Running time	103 minutes
Countries	France Italy[1]
Language	French
Box office	1.9 million admissions (France)[2] $39,481 (US rerelease) [3]

Le Samouraï (French pronunciation: ​[lə sa.mu.ʁa.i]; lit. 'The Samurai'), is a 1967 neo-noir crime film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. The film follows a professional hitman named Jef Costello who is seen by witnesses and his efforts to provide himself an alibi that drive him further into a corner. The film stars Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon and Cathy Rosier.

The film was released on 25 October 1967, receiving positive reviews with praise for Melville's screenwriting and direction, and Delon's performance and atmosphere. The film grossed over 1.9 million admissions in France.^[4] A dubbed version was released in the U.S. in 1972 as The Godson, apparently to capitalize on the success of The Godfather.

Plot[]

Impassive hitman Jef Costello (Delon) lives in a single-room Paris apartment whose spartan furnishings include a small bird in a cage. Costello's methodical modus operandi involves creating airtight alibis, including ones provided by his lover, Jane (Nathalie Delon). After carrying out a contract on a nightclub owner, Jef is seen leaving the club by several witnesses, including the club's piano player Valérie (Cathy Rosier), but their testimonies are contradictory. After rounding up numerous suspects, including Jef, the superintendent (François Périer) firmly believes Costello is the culprit.

Costello loses a police tail and goes to collect his fee from an intermediary sent by his employers, but the man shoots and wounds Costello. Costello realizes that the police investigation has compromised him with his employers. After treating his wound, Costello returns to the nightclub and meets Valérie, who drives him to her home. Though he is grateful, he wonders why she lied to the police when she clearly saw him after the murder. Meanwhile, police officers bug his room, agitating the bird in its cage. Upon returning, Costello notices some loose feathers scattered around the cage and the bird acting strangely. Suspecting an intrusion, he searches his room, finds the bug and deactivates it.

The police search Jane's apartment and offer her a deal: withdraw her dubious alibi for Costello and they will leave her alone. She rejects the offer. Back in his apartment, Costello is ambushed by the intermediary, who pays him off and offers him another contract. Costello overpowers him and forces him to disclose the identity of his boss, Olivier Rey ().

Several undercover officers attempt to tail Costello in the Métro but he loses them. He visits Jane and assures her that everything will work out, then drives to Rey's home, which turns out to be where Valérie also lives. Costello kills Rey and returns to the nightclub, this time making no attempt to conceal his presence. He checks his hat but leaves his hat-check ticket on the counter and puts on white gloves, which he wears during his kills, in full view of everyone. He approaches the stage where Valérie plays piano. She quietly advises him to leave but he pulls out his gun and aims it at her. As she asks Costello why he is doing this, three policemen reveal themselves and shoot Costello dead. When the superintendent inspects Costello's gun, he finds it empty.

Cast[]

• Alain Delon as Jef Costello
• François Périer as the Superintendent
• Nathalie Delon as Jane Lagrange
• Caty Rosier as Valérie, the pianist a/k/a Cathy
• Jacques Leroy as the man in the passageway
• Michel Boisrond as Wiener
• Robert Favart as the bartender
• Jean-Pierre Posier as Olivier Rey
• Catherine Jourdan as the hatcheck girl
• Roger Fradet, Carlo Nell and Robert Rondo as police inspectors

Production[]

Meville wrote the film for Delon.^[5] This was the first film for Delon's wife, Nathalie Delon. He filed for divorce after the film ended production; it became official in February 1969 and she was granted custody of their son, Anthony.^[6] François Périer, who played the police inspector, was a comedian cast against type. Melville's private film studio, Studio Jenner, was destroyed by fire while Le Samouraï was shooting early in July 1967. Melville, who termed the blaze "suspicious", moved the production to another studio.^[7]

Alternative ending[]

In an interview with Rui Nogueira, Melville stated that he had originally filmed Costello meeting his death with a picture-perfect grin. The scene was changed after Melville angrily discovered that Delon had already used a smiling death scene in another of his films. Still images of the smiling death exist.

Release and reception[]

Le Samourai was released on 25 October 1967. It received positive reviews with praise for Melville's screenwriting and direction, Delon's performance and atmosphere. It holds a 100% rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 31 reviews from critics, and a rating average of 8.4/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Le Samouraï makes the most of its spare aesthetic, using stylish – and influential – direction, solid performances, and thick atmosphere to weave an absorbing story."^[8]

The film was ranked No. 39 in Empire's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.^{[9][dead link]}

Variety, reviewing the original release, called it "a curious hybrid" that "appears a bit too solemn to inject all the suspense, action and characterization [Melville] seeks", and "almost seems to be an American film dubbed into French" that "could be cut a bit".^[10]

New York Times critic Vincent Canby called the original film "immaculate", but criticized the dubbing in the 1972 version released in the U.S. (as The Godson) as "disorienting" and "dreadful".^[11]

Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four in his review, writing: "Like a painter or a musician, a filmmaker can suggest complete mastery with just a few strokes. Jean-Pierre Melville involves us in the spell of Le Samourai (1967) before a word is spoken. He does it with light: a cold light, like dawn on an ugly day. And color: grays and blues. And actions that speak in place of words", with Ebert including the film in his collection of "Great Movies" essays.^[12]

Box office[]

The film grossed over 1.9 million admissions in France and over 797,011 admissions across Spain.^[4] First released in theaters in 1972 in the United States, The Samurai grossed $39,481 in the 1997 re-release.^[3]

Influence and legacy[]

The film has influenced other works and directors:

• Walter Hill's 1978 film The Driver features a similar dynamic between a reluctant female witness and, this time, the getaway driver, not the assassin.
• Hong Kong director John Woo's 1989 film The Killer was heavily influenced by Le Samouraï's plot, with the pianist replaced by a singer. Chow Yun-fat's character Jeffrey Chow (international character name for Ah Jong) was inspired by Alain Delon's Jef Costello. The inspiration, or homage, is confirmed by the similarity in the character names. Woo acknowledged his influences by writing a short essay on Le Samouraï and Melville's techniques for the film's Criterion Collection DVD release.^[13]
• Jim Jarmusch paid homage to Le Samouraï in the 1999 crime-drama Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, starring Forest Whitaker as a meditative, loner assassin who lives by the bushido code. Just as Costello has a huge ring of keys that enables him to steal any Citroën DS, the hitman Ghost Dog has an electronic "key" to break into luxury cars.^[14][15]
• Hong Kong director Pang Ho-Cheung's 2001 crime-and-filmmaking comedy You Shoot, I Shoot features Eric Kot as a hitman who idolizes Alain Delon's Jef, dressing like the character, and speaking to him via a Le Samouraï poster in his apartment.^[16]
• Johnnie To's Vengeance (2009) is a homage to Melville’s gangster films. The main character is a retired assassin whose last name is Costello. He offered the role to Alain Delon, who turned it down.^[17]
• George Clooney's assassin hiding in a small Italian village in Anton Corbijn's 2010 film The American bears a resemblance to Le Samouraï.^[18]
• Ryan Gosling's nameless protagonist in the 2011 film Drive shares key characteristics with Jef Costello.^[19]
• Madonna's 2012 song "Beautiful Killer" is an homage to Alain Delon. The song alludes to Le Samouraï and Delon's Jef: "You are a beautiful killer / I like your silhouette when you stand on the streets / Like a samurai you can handle the heat / Makes me wanna pray for a haunted man..."^[20]

See also[]

• List of films featuring surveillance
• List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes

References[]

Further reading[]

• Nogueira, Rui (ed.). 1971. Melville on Melville. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-46757-X (hardbound), ISBN 0-670-01926-7 (paperbound)
• Palmer, Tim. 2006. Le Samouraï In Phil Powrie (ed.), The Cinema of France. London: Wallflower Press. ISBN 1-904764-47-9 (hardbound), ISBN 1-904764-46-0 (paperbound)
• Vincendeau, Ginette. 2003. Jean-Pierre Melville : 'an American in Paris'. London: British Film Institute. ISBN 0-85170-950-8 (hardbound), ISBN 0-85170-949-4 (paperback)

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Le Samouraï

• Le Samouraï at IMDb
• Le Samouraï at AllMovie
• Le Samouraï: Death in White Gloves an essay by David Thomson at the Criterion Collection