Spoiler Alert: The following essay discusses key plot points, including the ending.
Last weekend, I took in “Le Samouraï” for what must have been the sixth or seventh time, relishing the new 4K restoration of Jean-Pierre Melville’s masterpiece (now playing at Laemmle theaters in Los Angeles). As I exited the screening, I discreetly eavesdropped on my fellow audience members. Most seemed impressed. A few were still processing what they’d seen: an existential study of a lone killer, told with radically little dialogue. “That wasn’t at all what I expected,” one woman told her friend. “I thought we were going to see some kind of samurai movie.”
It’s a reasonable assumption, given the film’s title, although the 1967 crime classic takes place half a world away, in Paris, almost exactly a century after Japan’s samurai era came to an end. I first saw “Le Samouraï” in the late ’90s,...
Last weekend, I took in “Le Samouraï” for what must have been the sixth or seventh time, relishing the new 4K restoration of Jean-Pierre Melville’s masterpiece (now playing at Laemmle theaters in Los Angeles). As I exited the screening, I discreetly eavesdropped on my fellow audience members. Most seemed impressed. A few were still processing what they’d seen: an existential study of a lone killer, told with radically little dialogue. “That wasn’t at all what I expected,” one woman told her friend. “I thought we were going to see some kind of samurai movie.”
It’s a reasonable assumption, given the film’s title, although the 1967 crime classic takes place half a world away, in Paris, almost exactly a century after Japan’s samurai era came to an end. I first saw “Le Samouraï” in the late ’90s,...
- 4/9/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Alain Delon Has a Job to Execute in Trailer for 4K Restoration of Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï
Whatever the idea of “canonized” suggests, few films of such order are quite so well-liked and perpetually referenced (or just ripped-off) as Le Samouraï, leaving me somewhat surprised we haven’t yet had a 4K treatment in the United States. But it was just a matter of time, and Jean-Pierre Melville’s ice-cold thriller now receives its due: Criterion and Pathé returned to the original 35mm negative for a restoration Film Forum debuts in a two-week run starting March 29.
Ahead of this comes a trailer that, even accounting for streaming compression, suggests the spectacular––Melville’s cool palette luminous as ever, the mono sound punchier than Criterion’s old DVD.
Find the new preview and poster below:
Professional hitman Delon lies fully-clothed in his threadbare monochrome apartment, then goes off to a day at the office: stealing a car, killing a man in a nightclub, setting up an ironclad alibi,...
Ahead of this comes a trailer that, even accounting for streaming compression, suggests the spectacular––Melville’s cool palette luminous as ever, the mono sound punchier than Criterion’s old DVD.
Find the new preview and poster below:
Professional hitman Delon lies fully-clothed in his threadbare monochrome apartment, then goes off to a day at the office: stealing a car, killing a man in a nightclub, setting up an ironclad alibi,...
- 3/13/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
"What kind of man is he?" Janus Films has revealed a brand new trailer for the 4K restoration re-release of an all-timer hitman classic called Le Samouraï. This French noir thriller first opened in France in 1967, only showing up in the US in 1972. It is widely considered one of the best assassin films ever made, and is often referenced by many great filmmakers in terms of style and minimalism. After professional hitman Jef Costello is seen by witnesses, his efforts to provide himself an alibi drive him further into a corner. Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï stars French legend Alain Delon as Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts. The cast also includes François Périer, Nathalie Delon, and Caty Rosier. Roger Ebert wrote a 4 star review in 1997, stating: "The movie teaches us how action is the enemy of suspense--how action releases tension, instead of building it. Better to wait for...
- 3/13/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
In 1967, director Jean-Pierre Melville and actor Alain Delon were at the top of their game. They each had years of experience and critical success, Melville with his films about occupied France (his 1949 feature debut Le Silence de la Mer and 1961’s Léon Morin, Priest) and crime thrillers (such as 1956’s Bob le flambeur, 1963’s Le Doulos, and 1966’s Le deuxième souffle); Delon with a string of films made by various world-class auteurs taking advantage of his nice combination of acting ability and leading-man looks (René Clément’s 1960 film Purple Noon; Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1962 film L’Eclisse; Luchino Viconti’s 1963 film The Leopard). The two would finally work together in 1967’s Le Samouraï, the first of a three-film partnership that would end with Melville’s early death at 55 in 1973.
For my money, Le Samouraï is at the pinnacle for each, as close as other films may be to the pinnacle, and cemented their legacy.
For my money, Le Samouraï is at the pinnacle for each, as close as other films may be to the pinnacle, and cemented their legacy.
- 11/21/2017
- by Trevor Berrett
- CriterionCast
Jean-Pierre Melville’s tale of an emotionless killer is distilled to a narrative minimum. Alain Delon stars as Jef Costello, an imperturbable, ultra- slick hit man who follows a strict personal code. When a contract goes bad, he’s caught between irreconcilable compulsions. Following this Zen-like assassin through the mean streets of Paris never seems to get old.
Le samouraï
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 306
1967 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 105 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 14, 2017 / 39.95
Starring Alain Delon, Francois Périer, Nathalie Delon, Cathy Rosier, Jacques Leroy.
Cinematography Henri Decaë
Production Designer Francois de Lamothe
Film Editor Monique Bonnot, Yo Maurette
Original Music Francois de Roubaix
Written by Jean-Pierre Melville, Georges Pellegrin from a novel by Joan McLeod
Produced by Raymond Borderie, Eugène Lépicier
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
Le samouraï has survived the Quentin Tarantino years Looking better than ever, and with its reputation intact, which is not a minor...
Le samouraï
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 306
1967 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 105 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 14, 2017 / 39.95
Starring Alain Delon, Francois Périer, Nathalie Delon, Cathy Rosier, Jacques Leroy.
Cinematography Henri Decaë
Production Designer Francois de Lamothe
Film Editor Monique Bonnot, Yo Maurette
Original Music Francois de Roubaix
Written by Jean-Pierre Melville, Georges Pellegrin from a novel by Joan McLeod
Produced by Raymond Borderie, Eugène Lépicier
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
Le samouraï has survived the Quentin Tarantino years Looking better than ever, and with its reputation intact, which is not a minor...
- 11/11/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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