Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

WELCOME! Use the search engines on this site (or your own off-site engine of choice) to gain easy access to the complete MAKSQUIBS Archive; more than 5500 posts and counting. (New posts added every day or so.)

You can check on all our titles by typing the Title, Director, Actor or 'Keyword' you're looking for in the Search Engine of your choice (include the phrase MAKSQUIBS) or just use the BLOGSPOT.com Search Box at the top left corner of the page.

Feel free to place comments directly on any of the film posts and to test your film knowledge with the CONTESTS scattered here & there. (Hey! No Googling allowed. They're pretty easy.)

Send E-mails to MAKSQUIBS@yahoo.com . (Let us know if the TRANSLATE WIDGET works!) Or use the Profile Page or Comments link for contact.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

LE DOULOS (1962)



This typically fine gangster/noir from Jean-Pierre Melville features Jean-Paul Belmondo as a crook with contacts on both sides of the law who manages to stay loyal to all his personal associates, legit & non. The key to the tricky plot, about jewels & cash stolen from a murdered middleman, lies in Melville withholding a lot of explanatory info until all the events have been concluded or at least set into motion. A tactic that also sets up the final tragedy. Serge Reggiani, as the recidivist thief who starts the balls rolling in the riveting first two reels, actually has the larger role, but Belmondo is the moral & intellectual compass here. He gives Melville a sort of optimistic energy not found in his other projects which alters the tone of the pic and, to some extent, makes the typical Melville fatalism come across as forced rather than inevitable. Along with some oddly handled backscreen projection work, it places this pic just below Melville’s top-tier.

No comments: