- NICE. I didn't even know this was on DVD, i'm gonna order it asap.Fear Over The City (Peur Sur La Ville)
To keep with the Belmondo theme here:
Le Professionel (1981) - another one of my alltime personal faves. I was a bit worried buying the dvd because of nostalgia factor - I used to watch this when I was little and remembered it with much love. Unfortunately, I've previously found a bunch of movies from my younger days that were real disappointing now. Fortunately this one lived up to expectations and then some.
Before getting to the details, I got to mention the overall feel of this. The other movies I posted here are all very fast paced (or they try to be), the general effect is very frantic and energetic. This one is different, maybe because it's French and not Italian - it feels very laid back. There is a fatalistic attitude that prevails in the plot, the characters, even the fantastic Morricone score. In this aspect it could be likened to its betters such as Le Circle Rouge and Le Samourai. Even though there is action, it is almost secondary, the main attraction is watching the events unfold.
The story here is about a French spy Joss Beaumont who is sent to Africa to assasinate an enemy president. He is found out, spends some time in prison and then escapes. When the president, now an ally, visits Paris Beumont shows up out of nowhere to settle old scores and complete his assignment.
As I mentioned above, this is not an "action spectacular." There are certainly action scenes, but the hero mostly accomplishes his goals by outwitting everyone around him. That's the part I actually enjoyed the most - he's a badass and could kill at will, but he uses his head instead and makes everybody else look like assholes.
The character of Beumont is not very original but well defined. It's clear that he was conceived from some kind of insanely cool composit of Jef Costello, James Bond and a leather jacket, but it's perfect for the films purposes. Belmondo is a good actor for the part, he is much older here than he was when he worked with Godart and his hearthrob days are behind him. It's cool to see an "action hero" who is a bad ass, success with the ladies (understatement in this case), but is by no means a pretty boy, or even good looking.
So, for the redundant bottom line, this movie is my shit. A really cool mix of spy, euro action and character drama, with a Morricone score that will make you want to cry like "All that I got is you"
