First, it is not the policier who you expect. against the same lines, Jean Gabin in a well known role and the last scenes. it is different for a simple reason - because the sentimental side is well developed, because the presence ( and music) of Serge Gainsbourg and for Dany Carrel performance. and for the flavor of a story political incorrect but solide and coherent and seductive. a film about the justice, friendship and choices. useful for old memories. and for the trip in the frame of a period, with its sensitivities, taste and options. a world. like an refuge.

Jean Gabin made some tremendous movies throughout his long career, this was one I'd never seen before and although not tremendous is a pretty good absorbing gangster yarn. On the other hand the dead body count is most definitely tremendous, paradoxically human life seemed to have cheapened in value over his career.Tale of violent robberies followed by violent murders by a violent nutter, but the murder of his old childhood friend the sucker Albert really riles Police Comissaire Gabin. He dogs the baddies footsteps and eventually arranges his come-uppance in his role of official police avenger. And he's in charge and he's fed up with the seemingly endless supply of crooks. The spoiler alert is because when Dany Carrel - who I must say never looked lovelier than in here - gets pointlessly shot the film also shoots itself in the foot too and never quite recovers its direction. It left an exclamation point over my head; in fact the later train robbery reminded me of an old Keystone film in its lack of realism. Also the denouement reminded me of The Train except not poignant at all. However, overall the film was well made, flabby Gabin was eye-catching and impeccable as usual (but thankfully he wasn't asked to swing with the semi-naked hippies though!), and you're never bored.Personally I've always regarded Gabin's later films as being much more dated than his work from thirty years earlier – this is no exception. Jour Se Leve and Grand Illusion may have passed into Timelessness, and although this flimsy outing never will it's still entertaining.

While the story is pretty run-of-the-mill detective stuff, there are some bits of cinematography that I found stunning: Léon's car sinking in the pond while Brigitte Bardot sings "Harley Davidson", the odd meeting between Quinquin and Nathalie in the very cool JNS3 shop, Quinquin's elimination of his co-conspirators at the farm, the details of the original heist that starts everything off. The police offices are surreally cool and modern, stuffed with (for the time) ultra-high technology.It's really not Gabin's best performance by a long shot; another reviewer amusingly mentions him "waddling in." He seems tired and like he's just phoning it in. I disagreed that Dany Carrel couldn't act; I thought she was pretty good (and really beautiful). André Pousse (Quinquin) was very effective as a ruthless murderer.It was fun to see Gainsbourg and his nicotine-stained fingers in the studio. The music was used to pretty good effect through the movie -- perhaps most strikingly, as I noted above, when Quinquin takes care of Léon at the pond. Two touches that amused me: Gabin's character was named Joss, which presages Joss Beaumont in Le Professional (1981), another Lautner/Audiard collaboration. More subtle: the railway station chief at Troyes speaks with a pronounced stutter; Troyes is best known for the coronation of Louis the Stammerer in 878.I also got a kick out of it since it was filmed the year I was born, and the world then looks so different from the way it does now.

and the plot may seem familiar from a dozen other crime/thriller movies you have seen, but the character is played by an aging Jean Gabin, who does one of his best performances I can recall. The film depicts well Paris night-life, and the dangerous links between clubs, girls, racketeers, and the Police, in a realistic approach to mid-1960's life.