Le Samourai, 1967 (Grade D)

DIRECTOR:Jean-Pierre Melville
FRENCH FILM
Starring: Alain Delon

sez says: This was described as a French Masterpiece / early New Wave /  mystery thriller.  That sounded great.  Well--the best thing about the film is the set --and especially the old telephones. (There is a red and white telephone, sitting on the policeman's desk, that I'd be every-so happy to get my hand on. And there are others too, so if you watch this film, look for the phones. They are fun.)  But that is an aside. There is minimal dialogue..and our 'anti-hero' goes around being ever so cool.  He is a hired killer--who we are suppose to be --what? impressed with? He is without affect/emotion. He just wonders up and dow hall ways with an expressionless face, wearing a coat and hat that he really should have dumped. We are told he is VERY SMART--but in fact he really is not even very bright: He can't even figure out that he ought to loose his coat when the police are looking for a man wearing that coat, etc.   The story ends in a very weird way--and by the time we got there and asked "Why did he do that?",   none of of cared enough to spend any real time speculating. We just shrugged and went on to our next movie. GRADE D (the grade could have been lower with out the