WATCH PARTY: Le Samouraï (1967) dir. Jean-Pierre Melville@ Mary Pretlow Library
Details
We'll be in the big room, Meeting Room 1, to the right of the entrance.
RUNTIME: 105 minutes
RATED: Not Rated
SYNOPSIS (via Criterion): In a career-defining performance, Alain Delon plays Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts. After carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless employer, and not even his armor of fedora and trench coat can protect him. An elegantly stylized masterpiece of cool by maverick director Jean‑Pierre Melville, Le samouraï is a razor-sharp cocktail of 1940s American gangster cinema and 1960s French pop culture —with a liberal dose of Japanese lone-warrior mythology.
BLURBS:
"Everything is in harmony: acting, photography, editing. As an example of classic directorial technique, Le Samouraï should be required viewing for any film training school." - Geoffrey Minish, Toronto Star
"Cold, masterly, without pathos, and not even particularly sympathetic; it has the noble structure of accuracy." - Penelope Gilliat, The New Yorker
"The film is masterful in its control of acting and visual style. 'I’m incapable of doing anything but rough drafts,' [Melville] once said, but in fact 'Le Samourai' is as finished and polished as a film can be." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times