Borsalino (film)

Borsalino
French film poster for Borsalino
Directed by	Jacques Deray
Produced by	Alain Delon Henri Michaud
Written by	Jean-Claude Carrière Jean Cau Jacques Deray Claude Sautete
Based on	"The Bandits of Marseilles" by Eugene Saccomano
Starring	Jean-Paul Belmondo Alain Delon
Music by	Claude Bolling
Cinematography	Jean-Jacques Tarbès
Edited by	Paul Cayatte
Production company	Adel Productions Marianne Productions Mars Film Produzione
Distributed by	Paramount
Release date	20 May 1970
Running time	125 minutes
Country	France Italy
Language	French Italian
Box office	$35.3 million

Borsalino is a 1970 gangster film directed by Jacques Deray and starring Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Catherine Rouvel. It was entered into the 20th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 2009 Empire magazine named it #19 in a poll of the 20 Greatest Gangster Movies You've Never Seen* (*Probably)

A sequel, Borsalino & Co., was released in 1974 with Alain Delon in the leading role.

In year 1930, in Marseilles, the gangster Siffredi is released from prison and searches for his former girl friend, Lola.

He finds her with Capella, another gangster. The two men fight over her but become friendly and form a partnership.

Capella and Siffredi fix horseraces and prizefights, then are contacted by Rinaldi, a lawyer who works for Marello and Poli, the gangsters who control crime in Marseilles.

Rinaldi suggests that Siffredi and Capella seize control of Marello's hold on the fish market business. They succeed in doing this but become ambitious and try to control Poli's meat market operations. Poli tries to have them killed but they succeed in killing him.

Another gangster, The Dancer, kills Rinaldi. Capella and Siffredi dispose of his body and establish themselves as the rulers of the Marseilles crime world.

Capella decides to leave Marseilles but is killed by an assassin. Siffredi then decides to leave Marseilles himself.

The film was based on real life gangsters Paul Carbone and François Spirito. In real life these men joined the Carlingue that collaborated with the Germans during World War Two (but this is not mentioned in the film).

It was produced by Alain Delon, who had been looking for a vehicle for him to co-star with Belmondo. He found the story in a book he was reading about French gangsters from 1900 to 1970.

Under the terms of their contracts, each actor had to have the same amount of close ups. Delon dyed his hair black for his role.

It was one of the most expensive French movies ever made. Finance mostly came from Paramount Picture.