La puerta cerrada

Muddled crime drama patterned after (but a long way from) Jean-Pierre Melville, with whom Giovanni had collaborated; not bad in itself but definitely second-rate, the behind-the-camera talent involved (including composer Francois de Roubaix, who had earlier scored Melville's LE SAMOURAI [1967]) notwithstanding.

For starters, Jean-Claude Bouillon is too anonymous to carry the lead role and the supporting cast is equally uninspired - despite the (admittedly brief) presence of Giancarlo Giannini as a lawyer and Paola Pitagora as a sympathetic nurse. The film deals with a wounded small-time crook on the run from both his untrustworthy associates (who are happy to pin a robbery he didn't commit on him!) and the brutal cops (he gunned down their chief during a robbery, even if it was in self-defense!). It does, however, feature a lengthy set-piece of Bouillon besieged by police inside a factory - which recalled LE JOUR SE LEVE (1939) or, rather, that film's remake THE LONG NIGHT (1947)...since I've yet to catch up with the original myself!