This may not be the best of Jacques Deray's nine collaborations with Alain Delon but it is certainly the most commercially successful. Delon maintained that Deray was the director with whom he had the greatest affinity which is praise indeed considering his sterling work for such luminaries as Visconti, Melville, Verneuil and Clément!
Based upon Scammano's novel 'Bandits at Marseilles' about real life gangsters Carbone and Spirito whose names have naturally been changed, this is essentially a vehicle for Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo who are both at the height of their popularity and in their physical prime. The pairing proved to be a masterstroke as both actors possess charisma in spades whilst Delon's measured coolness is balanced by Belmondo's easy-going amiability.
Set in 1930's Marseilles this has excellent period detail, a catchy if somewhat repetitious theme by Claude Bolling, female interest in the shape of elegant Francoise Christophe, mysterious Corinne Marchand and delectable Catherine Rouvel and as a bonus we have the always good value Michel Bouquet as a shady lawyer.
Plenty of mucho-macho posturing of course and corpses galore with a shootout set in an abattoir that will have assorted veggies and vegans foaming at the mouth. The imaginative ways in which various low-lifes are bumped off anticipate 'The Godfather' although Deray's film lacks the psychological depth of Coppola's masterpiece. Deray was also said to be influenced by Melville but lacks that director's Existentialist feel. What is certain is that Deray made his mark in the thriller genre which he considered to be 'spectacle of the higher order.'
