L'alpagueur

Philippe Labro is a director who studied in the US.He has always thought he was born to give an American touch to his works:but it's wishful thinking ;his most satisfying works remain his early efforts :"Tout Peut Arriver" and "Sans Mobile Apparent",the latter based on an Ed MCBain thriller ;when he writes his own material ,it spawns the horribly pretentious "philosophical " "Le Hasard Et La Violence".His other screenplays are not better.

"L'Alpagueur" is some kind of follow-up to "L'Heritier ",both works featuring Belmondo as Belmondo ;in both , the "hero" in untroduced by a voice over who tells us,should we have doubts about it,that we deal here with an iron man, an undefeated superman .

The screenplay is patchy ,inconsistent ,and seems to have been written in a slapdash manner ;Belmondo 's face is deadpan,only wearing a smug smile , and he always wins ,so do not expect any suspense .On the other hand, Bruno Cremer ,as the ruthless cold killer ("the sparrowhawk") is able to give the jitters ,and had he been well directed -and had the screenply been more focussed on him- ,he could have provided a poor thriller with an interesting character.

The last scene , which comes at the most awkward moment ,is almost a "Goldfinger " rip -off.

Word to the wise : choose Verneuil's "Peur Sur La Ville" if you want to see an effective Belmondo- versus- killer movie.