Killer (1972)

Just what I expected

Admirable film.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One of several late career films to feature Jean Gabin essentially playing himself - world-weary, knowing and more than a little exhausted. Here he plays a soon to retire cop pursuing escaped lunatic Fabio Testi throughout Paris & Marseille. The film, directed by Denys de La Patellière, may be a bit pedestrian but it's still a treat to watch the great Gabin. He's well matched with Testi, an actor not usually cast as such a ruthless hellion. It's a fast paced, gritty and highly unspectacular film. The supporting cast includes Bernard Blier, a very young Gerard Depardieu, Jacques Richard as Testi's extremely patient brother and Uschi Glas as the unlucky Gurda. The brightly lit cinematography is by the legendary Claude Renoir.

Watching this film, I repeatedly failed to shake off the "who cares?" feeling. "Le tueur" miserably fails to deliver. It is not entirely unwatchable, but this is mainly due to the presence of highly-acclaimed legends such as Gabin and Blier, who wasted their talents here majorly. The story is flimsy: dangerous criminal breaks out deviously, hides from the police with the help of old mates hoping for an escape abroad (with a girl he picked up on the way) – he keeps one step ahead of the cops all the time, partly due to his ruthlessness, until the police begin to attempt using equally cunning methods. The ending is predictably abrupt, yet lacks the ingenious elegance one is hoping for. This movie has no redeeming features such as artistic photography (though I did like the geographical locations) or striking mood-enhancing music. The characters all remain very flat. We don't take to the killer (for the obvious fact he is a ruthless killer), not even when he unconvincingly starts developing warm feelings for Gerda (Uschi Glas). Strangely enough, he is not even a convincing psycho, looking much too nice to be one. All we are left with are the apparent differences between Le Guen (Gabin) and Tellier (Blier) and the way the police are plodding to get results. And even all that is not too impressive.

This would be violent thriller is thoroughly devoid of interest.Jean Gabin's career reached its nadir in the sixties and the seventies .At the time,Carné,Renoir,Grémillon,Ophuls,Duvivier and Autant-Lara were either dead or artistically dead and Gabin never worked (perhaps wisely)with the Nouvelle Vague.He could have tried Chabrol though.This is the story of a killer (Fabio Testi's playing is appalling)and Gabin is hot on his heels .The movie is as obsolete as the computer(!) the Police use or Bernard Blier's recriminations about Gabin's assistant's long hair.Denys De la Patellière,a director who had NEVER produced a decent movie in a rather long career,with the exception of "retour de Manivelle" ,reached here one of his lowest points.Gabin's career was almost over but another one was about to take off:Gerard Depardieu has a small part in the third half .His playing is not particularly remarkable.