Le Samouraï was #24 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1960s and #31 on the MoFo Top 100 Foreign Films.
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
Le Samouraï is Jean-Pierre Melville's second entry in the countdown, after Le Cercle Rouge (#23). However, he also placed Bob Le Flambeur in the Film Noir countdown.
Le Samouraï is one of only three (3) films in the countdown to have a perfect RT score of 100%, along with Branded to Kill (#71) and The Man from Nowhere (#87).
I admire Le Samouraï, undoubtedly one of the coolest looking Noirs ever, but it isn’t even in my Top Three of Jean-Pierre Melville’s filmography, so no vote from me though I respect its inevitably high placement here. Another one of my Neo No Shows…
I discovered The Yakuza (1974) a little late, for me, as I waited until I could find a letterboxed LaserDisc for my first viewing. It was worth the wait. The immortal Robert Mitchum stars in what was, for me, his last great lead role, the year after he made The Friends of Eddie Coyle (#100) and decades after he tore up the screen in the likes of Out of the Past, Night of the Hunter, and Cape Fear. Here he plays Harry Kilmer, a World War II Veteran who recently retired as a private dick. An old war buddy, George Tanner (Brian Keith) asks to call in a big favor. He has been doing business in modern Japan and has run afoul of the Yakuza in a gun deal, and now they have kidnapped his adult daughter. Tanner asks Kilmer to go back to Tokyo, where he hasn’t been since his days as an MP during the initial post-War occupation, to help negotiate her release. But Kilmer left more than memories behind, he was madly in love with a woman he had saved, Eiko (Keiko Kishi), who he wished to marry. But her brother Ken (Ken Takakura, known to Neo Noir fans from Ridley Scott’s Black Rain) forbid their union and Harry reluctantly returned to the States. He agrees to the job with Tanner’s bodyguard Dusty (Richard Jordan) along for added muscle, if needed.
Once back in Japan all of those old feelings are resurrected, just as strong as they were thirtysome years before. Ken is indebted to Kilmer for saving Eiko’s life, so he reluctantly agrees to help as much as he can. Ken was a Yakuza member and left, but his brother Goro (James Shigeta, Mr. Takagi in Die Hard) is still in the organization. Old and new lies are exposed as Harry attempts to negotiate the sins of the past and of the present. There are some terrific bursts of action, both sword and gunplay, but what makes it resonate the most is he lovelorn, world-weary performance by Mitchum who was still a credible man of action on the screen but added such sadness and gravitas to his character.
Directed by Sydney Pollack between The Way We Were and Three Days of the Condor, co-written by Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) and his brother Leonard with a pass credited to Robert Towne (Chinatown), it is a movie I love that should be much better known than it is. Not enough MoFo love for it to show here, but I hope some of you check it out and maybe one of these days it will bubble to the top of another list where it is eligible. I had it at sweet sixteen on my ballot, good for ten points.
HOLDEN'S BALLOT 4. Night Moves (#40) 5. High & Low (#19) 6. Nightcrawler (#21) 7. The Grifters (#45) 8. One False Move (#73) 9. Blast of Silence (#48) 11. Blow Out (#17) 12. To Live & Die in L.A. (#43) 13. The Naked Kiss (#51) 14. Angel Heart (#31) 15. Shallow Grave (#95) 16. The Yakuza (DNP) 17. Dead Again (#90) 19. The Limey (DNP) 21. Drive (#14) 22. The Hot Spot (#85) 23. Charley Varrick (DNP) 24. Blue Ruin (#82) 25. Johnny Handsome (DNP)
Last edited by Holden Pike; 1 week ago at 04:09 PM.
I watched Le Samouraï mostly on the strength of SpelingError's unbridled enthusiasm for it. I'm glad I did. It's vibe has been mimicked countless times since, most recently in Fincher's The Killer. But it still stands on it's own and how often can you say that about a 57 year old movie? It unfortunately didn't make my list.
Le Samouraï was my Number 1 choice on my ballot!
I wrote this about it:
Le Samouraï (1967)
I absolutely loved this film. I was engaged, engrossed and encapsulated by it for its entire run time. Not one false step in this movie. There's nothing I would've changed about it...and rarely do I not find at least some issue with a film...but not here!
Le Samourai is everything I could want in a movie watching experience. I loved it's slow, still approach and it's solid determination. Even it's lack of narrative information was a plus, as watching the events unfold in almost real time was rewarding for me. It was like I was along for the ride and was waiting to see what would befall our unlikely protagonist next. The director skillfully builds sympathy for an otherwise unsavory character and he does this without dipping into the cliche bargain bin of director's tricks. I'm impressed with Melville's film making instincts!
Am I the only one who sees a striking similarity between Le Samourai (1967) and This Gun for Hire (1942) starring Alan Ladd as an emotionless hitman with no friends except his cat. Just look at that photo I used above. No that's not Alain Delon/Jef Costell that's Allan Ladd with the same cold, distant look in his eyes. Both men look remarkable alike. The narrative of both films are very similar, as is the modus operandi for both characters. As far as I know Alan Ladd's portrayal of an emotionless, loner hitman was unique at the time and not a character trope.
Le Samourai was so cool that I had to watch it again right after my initial viewing. #6
3. Blue Velvet (1986)
4. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
5. High and Low (1963)
6. Le Samouraï (1967)
7. Blood Simple (1984)
8. Mulholland Drive (2001)
10. Alphaville (1965)
13. The Conversation (1974)
14. Zodiac (2007)
15. Memories of Murder (2003)
17. Fireworks (1997)
18. Pale Flower (1964)
19. The Grifters (1990)
20. Inherent Vice (2014)
22. The American Friend (1977)
24. Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
25. Série noire (1979) - One pointer
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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
The only film in my top ten that will not make the list is Payback, my #7, which I think is a rollicking good time.
Yeah, I'm a little surprised Payback didn't make it, myself. I didn't vote for it but while Point Blank (#72) is definitely the artsiest and most historically influential of the Westlake "Parker" adaptations and The Outfit (1973) may be the purist's favorite, there is no denying that Payback (1998) is a damn fun flick, easily the most accessible and widely seen of the adaptations. Not sure if Mel Gibson's off-screen antics have so tarnished his image that folks just discounted it or if it is simply that there were so many first-rate Neo Noirs in the 1990s that some of them were inevitably not going to make it? Perhaps the fractured production history and two existing cuts confused the matter a bit, too? Maybe that as a Noir leaning on its darkly comedic moments (especially in the better known theatrical cut) it has simply been supplanted by Shane Black's The Nice Guys and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang that really went for the comedy even more fully?
I definitely figured it would show in the bottom half of the collective list somewhere. Oh, well.
Last edited by Holden Pike; 1 week ago at 04:46 PM.
One of the titles around which I've built the ballot. It is third Alain Delon on my list (and all they made top 100).
I like very much stylish movies like this one and The Driver and others like these. That's art in any sense.
__________________ "Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.
"Like a painter or a musician, a filmmaker can suggest complete mastery with just a few strokes. Jean-Pierre Melville involves us in the spell of "Le Samourai" (1967) before a word is spoken. He does it with light: a cold light, like dawn on an ugly day. And color: grays and blues. And actions that speak in place of words." (read full review here)
Academy Cinemas said:
"An elegantly stylized masterpiece of cool by maverick director Jean‑Pierre Melville, Le SamouraÏ is a razor-sharp cocktail of 1940s American gangster cinema and 1960s French pop culture—with a liberal dose of Japanese lone-warrior mythology." (read full review here)
"This might be one of the most elegant portrayals of murder excellence I have seen in cinema. Following a hitman with what looks to be a timeless timespan, taking his time with every little detail to make sure it suits his careful routine. As an audience, we continue to tail this individual as he goes through his lethal preparation, which eventually leads to the fatal termination of his top target on his current kill list." (read full review here)
I had Le Samouraï at #15. Stylish and enthralling, it looks great and oozes cool. And the bit of redemption at the end is perfect.
My List:
3. Miller's Crossing (#15)
4. Memories of Murder (#25)
5. True Romance (#60)
7. Drive (#14)
8. Blood Simple (#9)
9. Nightcrawler (#21)
11. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (#100)
12. Branded to Kill (#71)
13. The Man Who Wasn't There (#27)
14. Blast of Silence (#48)
15. Le Samouraï (#7)
16. Sin City (#26)
17. Memento (#8)
18. Following (#84)
20. Jackie Brown (#18)
21. Mother (#67)
22. Purple Noon (#94)
23. Cop Land (DNP)
24. Against All Odds (DNP)
25. The Man from London (DNP)
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I may go back to hating you. It was more fun.
Le Samourai was my #7, just one place above Le Cercle Rouge. I waver on which of the two I prefer, but this just felt one place more neo-noir. Looks great, cool and deliberately paced and Alain Delon is my favourite.
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