Le Samourai

"Who are you?," the nightclub owner asks the intruder. "It doesn't matter," the trenchcoated figure replies. "What do you want?" The inevitable reply: "To kill you." Thus begins Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 film noir masterpiece, released on video in the restored director's cut that played to rapturous critical acclaim earlier this year (its coolness quotient heightened with benedictions bestowed by John Woo and Quentin Tarantino). Alain Delon is solitary hit man Jef Costello, who does indeed carry out his assignment after establishing an alibi with his mistress and card-playing colleagues ("I never lose"). But a potential eyewitness who mysteriously refuses to identify Jef in a police line-up sets in motion an ever-tightening dragnet and date with destiny. Incredibly, this film was first released--dubbed and re-edited--in the United States in 1972 as The Godson to capitalize on Coppola's box office hit! Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (K. Lee Benson)[DVD Review—Nov. 1, 2005—Criterion, 105 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, $29.95—Making its first appearance on DVD, 1967's Le Samourai boasts a fine transfer and Dolby Digital mono sound. DVD extras include archival interviews with director Jean-Pierre Melville and costars Alain Delon, Francois Perier, Nathalie Delon, and Cathy Rosier (24 min.), an interview with Melville experts Ginette Vincendeau (19 min.) and Rui Nogueira (13 min.), a 29-page booklet featuring film scholar David Thomson, filmmaker John Woo, and selections from Nogueira's Melville on Melville, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a superb film.][Blu-ray/DVD Review—Nov. 14, 2017—Criterion, 135 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $29.95, Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1967's Le Samouraï features a great transfer and an uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include interviews with director Jean-Pierre Melville and costars Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, and Cathy Rosier (24 min.), 2005 interviews with Melville experts Ginette Vincendeau (19 min.) and Rui Nogueira (13 min.), the 2011 short doc “Melville-Delon: D'honneur et de nuit” (23 min.), and a booklet featuring an essay by film scholar David Thomson, an appreciation by filmmaker John Woo, and selections from Nogueira's 1971 book Melville on Melville. Bottom line: this classic foreign film noir shines on Blu-ray.]