This is one of the ten worst films I have ever seen.Story: A poor "List of Adrien Messenger" rip-off. Screenplay: Flat. There isn't a good line in the whole picture. Acting: Cardboard to painfully ridiculous, particularly Marielle, who's usually excellent. Soundtrack: Bad Moricone. Photography: Unremarkable.There is absolutely nothing to commend this film... except, maybe, the candy-for-the-eye shot of Stéphane Audran's cleavage.I don't know why I sat through this film. Of the three other Labro films I've seen, "L"Alpagueur" "Rive Droite, Rive Gauche" & "La Crime" only the latter was good. I trashed the other two but neither of these two were as bad as "Sans Mobile Apparent". There are so many watchable to good films to see I feel cheated out of 100 minutes of my life. Pity I can't sue.

A sniper is killing off a series of people who seem to be connected in some way. A detective investigating the case seems to come into contact with the victims shortly before they are dispatched.This is a stylish French murder-mystery set in Nice. It's well served on the acting personnel front. Jean-Louis Trintignant is very good in the central role as the brooding detective; while there is interesting support from others, such Stéphane Audran (leading lady from several Claude Chabrol films) and Jean-Pierre Marielle (who played a memorable flamboyant homosexual private investigator in Dario Argento's giallo Four Flies on Grey Velvet). Another welcome addition is Ennio Morricone's contribution; once again his score is excellent and adds to the atmosphere greatly. The dark story is offset effectively by its beautiful sunny locations too. It adds a bit of glamour to the grime.Sans Mobile Apparent is a well-constructed mystery with good plotting. It's a movie that is screaming out for a DVD transfer, it's one of the stronger French thrillers from the 70's.

"Without Apparent Motive" is a movie that works best on the second viewing: what at first seem to be random or maybe even pointless events and reactions turn out to be pieces of a carefully assembled puzzle, and once the puzzle is completed, the very complicated story becomes quite simple. In other words, there is a method to this movie's madness. The pacing could have been snappier in several spots, but director Philippe Labro does stage some memorable scenes, with the standout probably being the astrologer who spots the sniper just one second before he gets shot by him. A solid lead (Jean Louis Trintignant), a superb (in both looks and talent) female cast (Dominique Sanda, Laura Antonelli, Stéphane Audran - who has rarely been hotter than she is in her very brief role here - and Carla Gravina), pleasing Nice locations, and another fantastic score by Ennio Morricone add more value to this film. **1/2 put of 4.

An exceptional movie construction, masterminding the script, the actors, the music and the location. Each scene, per day and murder, and each actor's performance leave vivid pictures in my mind: the plunge in the swimming-pool, the deceived look of Gravina in her love-sex affair with Trintignant, the full power run of Trintignant around the Nice harbor, the final death posture of the murderer. Jean-Louis Trintignant camps a local French Riviera inspector, very self-image oriented as are most of the featured residents of the Cote d'Azur. A series of murders with no evident link is followed by Trintignant, each one filling a piece of the puzzle and bringing him closer to the murderer. Labro, the film director, shoots real-street-life and picks up the best essence of each of his actors. Beyond Trintignant, each other actor seems to have the second role while playing their cast with their own personality. Labro could have been another Jean-Pierre Melville and his magnificent "Le Cercle Rouge". This "Sans Mobile Apparent" showed all the promising ingredients needed by the French cinema to find a respected place in action movies. Labro followed up with "l'Heritier", not bad, far not as good, the magic having disappeared. My biggest regret: "Sans Mobile Apparent" is as yet unavailable in DVD and does not play on TV anymore.