Le Samouraï
| Le Samouraï | |
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| Directed by | Jean-Pierre Melville |
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| Music by | François de Roubaix |
| Cinematography | Henri Decaë |
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| Distributed by | S.N. Prodis |
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Release date
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Running time
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105 min |
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| Language | French |
Le Samouraï (French pronunciation: [lə samuʁaj]; The Samurai, Italian: ''Frank Costello faccia d'angelo'') is a 1967 French-Italian crime film co-written and directed by French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville, starring Alain Delon, Nathalie Delon, and François Périer.
Hitman Jef Costello (Delon) lives in a single-room Parisian apartment whose furnishings include a little bird in a cage. A long opening shot shows him lying on his bed, smoking, when the following text appears on-screen:
There is no greater solitude than that of the samurai unless it is that of the tiger in the jungle... Perhaps...
Costello's methodical modus operandi includes airtight alibis involving his lover, Jane (Nathalie Delon). Having carried out a murder contract on a nightclub owner, he is seen leaving the scene by several witnesses, including piano player Valérie (Cathy Rosier). Their statements are inconsistent but the investigating officer (François Périer) believes Costello is his man based on the witnesses who viewed Costello and his alibi that he was with Jane the whole time.
Costello loses a police tail and gets to a meeting point on a subway overpass to get paid by his employers. However, instead of getting money, he is shot and wounded by a man sent by his employers. Having bandaged his wound and rested, he returns to the nightclub and goes for a car drive with the piano player. He is grateful to her, but does not understand why she protected him from the police even though she was the key witness to the murder. In the meantime, police officers bug his room, which agitates the bird in its cage. Upon returning, Costello notices some loose feathers scattered around the cage and the bird acting strangely. Suspecting an intrusion, he searches his room, finds the bug and deactivates it.
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Wikipedia