With almost every bit of cinematic junk being issued to DVD these days, and a lot of junk there is too, the mind boggles as to why this film, quite a respectable political thriller from 1970's France, has not undergone such a fate. Indeed the DVD situation in France is now pretty hopeless and whilst a lot of modern transatlantic tripe has here been issued to DVD ( for what reason I daren't imagine ) many of the classics of French cinema are still, in the year 2008, still sadly missing from the DVD repertoire in their home country. I possess a VHS copy of the film and would dearly like to see this restored and remastered as the colours appear washed out or "délavées". The film has an amazing number of strong points, not least its opening sequence with aerial shots of Saint Etienne in the Loire Department all accompanied by a MAGNIFICENT score by.....Philippe Sarde. True the score sounds more reminiscent of desert scenes or some more dramatic décors than a French town. Patrick Deware, who sadly committed suicide at a young age, is brilliant as the pure judge who wants to see justice done in spite of those all around him having cold feet when top ranking officials or politicians are compromised by a scandal. There are unfortunately too few people in the world with qualities of this nature, even today and in whatever country, though I do think that Western Europe has made some progress on the issue. The film is NOT left-wing propaganda ( thank God ) and merely seeks to denounce political "magouilles" or under dealings and has a bleak end. Jean Bouise, another all-time favourite of mine, is magnificent as is also Jean-Marc Thibault. The dialogues today seem a little dated but are far preferable to the politically correct homogenous tripe that today's cinema serves out with deeper-by-the-day ladles.
Review of Le juge Fayard dit Le Shériff
