Customer Reviews

Un Flic

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an absolutely brilliant film, a French heist flick that really delivers. Delon is perfectly cast as the hard-bitten cop who doesn't hesitate to smack anyone around whom he thinks holds out on him. Richard Crenna, as the suave nightclub owner-master thief, is just as convincing. And it's fun to see Michael Conrad, duty sergeant on Hill Street Blues, as the getaway driver who's laconic and tough. Although in a relatively small role, Catherine Deneuve also hits the mark as the woman the thief and the cop both dig.

In fact, this is a laconic tough movie, and that's all to the good. When you see a beautiful woman administer a lethal dosage, you know you're watching the work of a director who doesn't flinch when it comes to portraying toughness. It's really a shame this was Melville's last film; it would have been fascinating to see what he would and could have done had he lived longer.

At the same time, when you also see the tough cop playing a sentimental jazz ballad on a nightclub piano, you know this is a film that doesn't wear its heart on its sleeve, but that definitely has one. It's the combination of this toughness and tenderness that makes the film sing--and zing. And the train heist (of drugs, not money) is a marvel to behold.

Here's a French film that everyone who thinks French films are all about romance or zany sex romping should definitely see. It's unsparing, it's stronger than dirt, and it is way cool, brother.

Nab it.

The thirteenth and final film by the great French director Jean-Pierre Melville is a stripped-to-the-bone heist movie with minimal dialogue, super-cool performances, audacious set-pieces and one or two smashing surprises, such as the presence of American actors Richard Crenna and Michael Conrad (of Hill Street Blues' "Let's be careful out there" fame)who are either speaking perfect French or dubbed so expertly you can't tell the difference. Either way, they blend seamlessly into the Melville house-style of brooding close-ups, honour among thieves and action so stylised it almost becomes abstract. Alain Delon plays a Paris cop embroiled in a weird romantic triangle with superthief Crenna and Catherine Deneuve at her most fabulously glacial. There are daring robberies in a seafront bank and on a train(OK so some of the model shots are a bit iffy, but we're talking 1972 after all), a wonderful stake-out in a cafe, great early 70s fashions and decor and lots and lots of "mecs" with obligatory Melville accessories of raincoats and guns. Plus a hilarious last deadpan scene involving a piece of chewing-gum. Tarantino eat your heart out - this is the real McCoy, or the real Melville, at any rate. Aficionados of heist movies should definitely check it out.

An unusually stylish action-suspense-crime film, the noirish UN FLIC is the last movie from Jean-Pierre Melville, one of the great French directors of the 50s and 60s. Melville has been called the creator of the modern gangster film and a major influence on such directors as Martin Scorsese, John Woo and Quentin Tarantino. This great looking widescreen transfer is especially fine-tuned to the muted shades of night and fog. Richard Crenna is a nightclub owner and the fearless, brilliant head of a gang of bank robbers. When they knock over a small bank, one of them is wounded. Soon burned-out detective Alain Delon, Crenna's old friend, takes an interest in the case and begins piecing the puzzle together. Meanwhile, Crenna, using the stolen loot plans a much bigger heist of a trainload of mob money. And, as fate would have it, both men continue a serious, secretive, relationship with Catherine Deneuve. Get the picture? The almost unbearable tension builds as the vectors of friendship, love and betrayal inexorably converge and meet in a memorable and hard-boiled finale. Released in America as "Dirty Money," this is the director's original cut. "Un flic" translates as "the cop." Recommended.    

« Un Flic » is the latest film of Jean-Pierre Melville, the famous French director of the 50s and 60s. It's the last but not the least. This film shows particularily well the style of the master which is very sensitive to the nights and gangsters'atmosphere. As it was the case for The Samuraļ and for The Red Circle or The Army of Shadows, the story is brilliant and the thrill upon the characters is so high that the viewer feels in. Alain Delon is excellent as usual, Catherine Deneuve and Richard Crenna appears in mysterious roles. You won't regret to buy this VHS because Melville is now considered as a master for directors like John Woo, Quentin Tarantino, or even Martin Scorcese.

It's a real chance to see that film in DVD. This new release is very expexted for Melville's fans. « Un Flic » is the latest film of Jean-Pierre Melville, the famous French director of the 50s and 60s. It's the last but not the least. This film shows particularily well the style of the master which is very sensitive to the nights and gangsters'atmosphere. As it was the case for The Samuraļ and for The Red Circle or The Army of Shadows, the story is brilliant and the thrill upon the characters is so high that the viewer feels in. Alain Delon is excellent as usual, Catherine Deneuve and Richard Crenna appears in mysterious roles. You won't regret to buy this VHS because Melville is now considered as a master for directors like John Woo, Quentin Tarantino, or even Martin Scorcese.

Melville is one of my favorite directors, and I love his other movies such as Le Cercle Rouge or Bob Le Flambeur, but this movie didn't have the same effect on me. If anything, his style is even more pronounced, which is all to the good. The almost completely silent robbery at the beginning is a thing of beauty, as is the train robbery. However, the plot just didn't hold together for me at all. It may be the fault of the subtitles, which I suspect were a somewhat poor rendition of the original french, but the movie really seems to jump around, and in many cases, makes no sense. I could go into more detail, but my issues are mostly to do with the closing scenes and the way in which the movie is tied together at the end.

Another great film of Melville. « Un Flic » is the latest film of Jean-Pierre Melville, the famous French director of the 50s and 60s. It's the last but not the least. This film shows particularily well the style of the master which is very sensitive to the nights and gangsters'atmosphere. As it was the case for The Samuraļ and for The Red Circle or The Army of Shadows, the story is brilliant and the thrill upon the characters is so high that the viewer feels in. Alain Delon is excellent as usual, Catherine Deneuve and Richard Crenna appears in mysterious roles. You won't regret to buy this VHS because Melville is now considered as a master for directors like John Woo, Quentin Tarantino, or even Martin Scorcese.

Sad to say the Jean-Pierre Melville did not leave this planet on a high note. Still, UN FLIC possesses some virtues beyond Melville's picturesque style. I found the two drawn-out heists, one right at the start and one in the middle, fascinating. And Catherine Deneuve, in a small supporting role, was the lovliest I've ever seen her.

This film also had the curious appearance of two American actors, Richard Crenna and Michael Conrad (better known later for his role in HILL STREET BLUES) - dubbed (I presume) into French. Crenna brings weight to his role but he must have felt a little lost doing it.

However, the rest of the movie languishes in world-weariness - but why? Melville must have seen that tone it in a lot of movies at the time and wanted to emulate it. But the rest of the story is too barren to explain it. And both Alain Delon, as the cop of the title, and Catherine Deneuve were too young and too lucky to be weary of life. It didn't seem authentic.

Still, there are so few Melville films that this is worth a viewing by Melville fans, at least.

I just watched this on DVD last night and it is the first Alain Delon film I've seen in color, even though I'm fond of his films, I guess I'm just not the film buff that most reviewers here are. The most intriguing thing about this film and the reason I selected it on Netflix is that Richard Crenna also has a starring role. Hard to imagine what that would look like - of course he was a lot younger in 1972 - so was I.

I liked the stylishness of the action and the plot was interesting, maybe not riveting, but I was evenly entertained and Alain looked good as usual. Then all of a sudden I was rolling on the floor laughing hysterically. WHY? The train robbery scenes used a horribly obvious toy train set and an equally unbelievable plastic model helicopter. So now I am watching the rest of the film through a veil of tears and stifled guffaws.

Until that is, Richard Crenna, nattily dressed in his stylish French robe and patterned silk pajamas is trying to look nonchalant and cool, smoking a cigarette, oh so casually, in the corridor of the train car and all the while has this huge huge horse-shoe magnet (yes, with the ends painted RED) clanking around his neck (with a few other things) and hidden under his attire.

I came undone again and really kind of missed the whole end of the film because it was just so outrageously, no, sublimely ridiculous I couldn't get that image out of my mind and stop laughing. I enjoyed this film a lot and plan now to buy a copy right here at Amazon.

OK, I can see how this film is a classic and how important it must have been in 1972 when it was released. It is beautifully filmed (especially the opening seaside scenes surrounding the bank robbery) and shares glimpses of a warm and inviting early-70s Paris, which is great.

Richard Crenna as a French criminal is a bit hard for me to swallow.

Alain Delon's character is cold and mean and elicits no sympathy or understanding from me.

I was but a toddler when this film came out so I came of age with MTV, etc. Perhaps my youth causes my attention to be fleeting... The long, slow, no-dialog scenes in this film are tedious in my opinion. Mildly tough to sit through.

I should also deride the silly special effects in this film. Part of the story involved a spectacular train robbery. Most of the exterior scenes of this robbery were done with a toy train set in a crude model landscape. Indeed the toy train is being shadowed by a plastic helicopter with a visible cable holding it in place. Just 4 years later Star Wars was released - surely the state of the art for movie special effects in 1972 would have allowed a more realistic train/helicopter chase sequence.