I had just written some kind of ode to 70s movies, as an intro to this post, when I found out that this film is actually from 1967. Oops! I make mistakes too. Even when it comes to remembering movies.
Le Samourai
This late 60s movie, starring Alain Delon, is a great example of the beauty of European - and in this case French - cinema. This masterpiece has very much of a film noir feel to it. It might have been released over a decade after the heyday of American film noir but it definitely fits that genre. It has an extremely cool vibe to it and is definitely influenced by its American predecessors. At the same time, some say, that Le Samourai has influenced many later film noir or 'neo noir' movies and there's no doubt about that. One of the most famous examples would be the 1976 masterpiece Taxi Driver.
Show don't tell
The first 10 minutes or so, there's no dialogue at all. I remember showing its opening scene to my students, when I taught a workshop on film history, years ago. It's a perfect example of 'show don't tell' and proofs that you don't need any dialogue to introduce a character. Location, actions and cinematography - when executed well enough - will do the trick. Le Samourai's opening scene has a kind of serene slowness to it, almost the opposite of what you would expect from a movie about a hitman. This, of course, has to do with its title and it's exactly the way a samurai would act. But beware! this is not a samourai movie...
I don't want to spoil the film for you any more so I will end it here by telling you that this movie inspired many great directors like: Scorsese, Coppola, Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai), David Fincher, Michael Mann, Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) and the Coen brothers.
Here's its trailer:
If you enjoy(ed) this film, I would advice you to look for more films by Jean-Pierre Melville. Some titles I do recommend are:
Bob le Flambeur (1956) L'Armée des ombres (Army of Shadows, 1969) Le Cercle Rouge (1970) Un Flic (1972)
Earlier movie recommendations:
Three Billboard outside of Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Castlevania - series (2017 - )
House by the Cemetery (1981) The Beyond (1981) City of the Living Dead (1980)
Sorcerer (1977)
The Birds (1963)
Suspiria (1977)
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
Nightcrawler (2014)
Ghost Story (1953)
Alice in the Cities (1974)
Altered States (1980)
Wake in Fright (1973)
