Le pacha

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.

Well, it may possibly not have aged that well, notably the story line, that's pretty linear, but this film nevertheless has a few decent assets.

First, the cast, granted you get Gabin playing lead, or rather freewheeling lead, but look at the rest of the cast : an impressive array of distinctive supporting actors, many of which can be spotted in many other films of the day, who do a spendid job in here, even when silent. For example, André Pousse has the perfect face for the ruthless gangster job he does in the movie.

Second asset is the mood, a sort of sticky, foggy, terribly square version of the late sixties. The final scene in a rundown factory is truly awesome. This atmosphere is enhanced by Serge Gainsbourg's splendidly sober score (Gainsbourg himself appears in one scene, singing the striking "Requiem pour un con"), based on mesmerising percussion loops (way ahead of its time) or very gentle hammond organ parts. Oh and one song by Brigitte Bardot ("Harley Davidson") is also featured as background to one scene.

Third, which can only be fully appreciated with a good command of French, is the script and dialogue, where Michel Audiard delivers some of his hilarious trademark one-liners, such as "le jour où on mettra les cons sur orbite, ben t'as pas fini de tourner" ["the day they'll put gits on orbit, you'll be far from stopping to revolve"], which rely on slang and adequate delivery to give an unmistakable texture to the lines.

The only real downers here are the embarrassingly "hip" nightclub scenes, complete with sitar-laden raga-rock, that are pretty unwatchable to today's standards.

Last point : it's pretty violent for its time, but in an almost choreographed way, which could in a way evoke "Spaghetti" Westerns or Sam Peckinpah's work...

An enjoyable slice of 1960s french cinema, simply does the job.

To put it mildy ,the screenplay is trite,as old as the hills : a cop wants to do away with a mobster who reigns over the underworld and is responsible for so many deaths it's impossible to count them all.

The interest lies elsewhere ,and there is considerable appeal for fans of the French sixties::first of all Lautner's lines are a delight,one of them (about putting the stupid b.........into orbit ) has become a classic of sorts ; the cast is splendid : Gabin is true to form , André Pousse is given for once a chance to shine as the straight-face ruthless criminal who want to have his cake and eat it;Dany Carrel is simply gorgeous as the naive girl used as a lure......Not only Serge Gainsbourg wrote the soundtrack (essentially based on drums)but the viewer attends a little bit of one of his recording sessions: the best rock/pop songwriter France has ever known smokes when he's singing! Two of his songs are included : the first one ("requiem pour un c......")provides a fitting epitaph for Gabin's friend ;as it it were not enough , it's followed by the de rigueur homage by the well-meaning people who praise a man of honor, a resistant fighter , a great patriot,etc. Gabin ,although part of the establishment , mumbles words that show another side of the departed:then begins a flashback .

There's a darker side to "le pacha" ; both the superintendent ("Le Pacha" ) and his friend were about to retire and for the former it's a journey through the past,("It's a seedy part of the town" says a cop; "thank you, Gabin replies ,I was born and raised around here")

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.

In Paris, there is the heist of priceless gems from an armored car and the police escort in an empty road. The criminal Quinquin (André Pousse) delivers the packages of gems to the dealer Marcel le Coréen (Pierre Koulak) and receives the payment for the robbery. Instead of sharing the money with his gang, Quiquin kills them all. Meanwhile, Inspector Joss (Jean Gabin) is investigating the heist and learns that his childhood friend, Inspector Gouvion (Robert Dalban), was the only survivor from the attack. When Gouvion is found dead by a gunshot in his apartment, there is a doubt whether it was an accident or suicide. However, Joss believes he was murdered. When the body of the gangster Leon (Henri Déus) is found shot in a submerged car in a lake, Joss meets his sister Nathalie Villar (Dany Carrel), who works in a nightclub and knows Gouvion, and begins to resolve the cases.

"Pasha" is a great police story in the old days, without the whining of the present days where criminals and corrupt politicians and businessmen are not sent to prison due to the justice systems. Inspector Joss, performed by the excellent Jean Gabin, resolves the problem with the killer Quiquin without any additional cost to the society. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Paxá" ("The Pasha")