I love the description of this film on the back of The Criterian Collection DVD: "In a career-defining performance, Alain Delon plays a contract killer with samurai instincts. A razor-sharp cocktail of 1940's American gangster cinema and 1960s French pop-culture—with a liberal dose of Japanese lone-warrior mythology—maverick director Jean-Pierre Melville's masterpiece Le Samouraï defines cool."
Be sure to answer the following questions or respond to something someone else said:
- How is this film typical of the French New Wave? Of film noir? Provide very specific examples.
- What do you make of the ending. Why did Jef do what he did? What was going on in his head?
- Overall, what did you like and dislike about the film? Why?
At the end Jeff basically kills himself. He knew that when he got to the club that he'd die that's why his gun had no bullets in it. I think that it does relate to Japanese culture specifically of the samari. He is so honorable and neat. Did everything precisely. and suicide is very typical in Japanese culture. They mostly did it when they have discrased their family or themselves. I think he just wanted to die. Things have gone to far and he'd rather die then spend life in prison.
ReplyDeleteI think hes a Bad A haha Everything he wore I was like dang I wish I could have those suits. They were freaking sweet!! But my favorite part about the movie was how he had like a milion keys for just about every car. Im super jealous hah But overall a geat film it was totally not what I expected Which made me like it even more. Cant wait till the next movie
Way to be the first to reply. The early bird gets the worm. So, are you saying that you think Jeff is different than a samurai in that he just wanted to die or that he is the same as a samurai in that way?
DeleteThis film is typical of film noir, but not in a typical way. It's a noir that isn't shown through the eyes of police or the mob. More like the middleman. And that's pretty great. But the time period clothing Jef wears is reminiscent of a great Noir film. Also, this film evokes some sort of loneliness, and makes you think about morality, which is a classic Noir thing to do. And there's even a detective!
ReplyDeleteThe ending of the movie perplexed me at first, but as I gave it a few hours to sink in, it grew on me. It makes sense now. I think Jef did what he did, because he knew the path which he was on was endangering to Jane, Valerie, and the Garage guy. He took a risk involving them with the police and Olivier Ray, and this was his only way to preserve his honor, and protect those who had helped him.
I loved this film, so much. At first, I thought it was just pretty cool, but by the time I absorbed it all later last night, I came to the realization that I love this movie. I love the clothing, the character of Jef, and the well-written script. The plot was great, and I love the originality of the whole thing. Many films have ripped parts of this movie and made it their own. Movies such as "Drive".
Also, as a side note, ironically enough, yesterday, John Woo decided that he's gonna remake Le Samourai, but set it in Germany, and film it in English.
Remake! Yuke!
DeleteI'm glad you liked it so much. Great thoughts on the end!
Ashton Bowers:
ReplyDeletei think the ending is what mainly represented him as a samurai. The cops were after him and so were the criminals, harassing his girlfriend and making his life hard, so he decided to fix things by going to the club with an empty gun where he knew the cops would be and get himself killed.
I really liked this movie because it was kind of what a samurai would be like as a french criminal, but still had honor and codes and did everything professionaly, I also liked the way he dressed up with the hats and coats, and how trained his bird was telling him people entered his house.
So, what I'm hearing from what you're saying is that Jef chose to die in order to make life easier for everyone else around him. That makes it an honorable sort of thing to do. I like that perspective.
DeleteAlan Carrasco
ReplyDeleteI think it went with the French New Wave because the way the character acted he was weird and the way he did the crime's was well thought out and well planned and he had steps he would take like putting on the gloves to their wouldn't be any finger prints and how he would always adjust he's cloths be for he left hes house. When he walked in the club he knew that he was going to get shot and it was different he left hes coat and hat with the coat racks and he left he ticket and then he walked up to bar and looked at the bartender while putting he gloves on and then walked away. Then walked to the piano and then he knew what would happen. What i kinda disliked about this move is that it was that clear about the title so i think i would watch it again to get it. What I did about this movie is just the acting in general. Good Move i would recommend it.
It's great to hear your thoughts, Alan! I'm glad you enjoyed the film.
DeleteC.J. Barrett:
ReplyDeleteAs we discussed in class, he had broken his code of honor, and therefore had to commit the French 1967 hired assassin equivalent of Hara-Kiri. It may just be me having missed something, but I don't think I heard mention of what exactly Jef did that broke his code. I suppose it was something to do with killing the man who hired him, or possibly the fact he accepted a contract to kill a girl or... I'm not sure, someone tell me if there was objective mention of what he did that broke his honor code.
I really, really enjoyed watching this movie. I like the suspense it created, while remaining dramatic, in a totally realistic way. I appreciated how the criminal's plans where thought out smartly, and I love the fact that he (Jef) has a key ring full of what looked like hundreds of keys that had a key for every lock. The first time he stole a car, I adored how relaxed and nonchalant he was about getting in, and trying every key until one worked. There are many narratives taken from a criminal's perspective, and this being the first film noir movie I've seen since I was... 8? (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) so this may be typical of the genre, but for many criminal-oriented narratives, there always seems to be some sort of hassle, or drama created whenever they carry out what they were paid for, usually in the form of some sort of internal self-conflict.
Also, was Lagrange or La Pianiste (as a Google search revealed she's referred to as) the femme fatale? Both? I want to say Lagrange was, but I could see how La Pianiste could be...
In my opinion, he didn't break his code in the sense of breaking any personal moral code but in the sense of getting caught. Part of the samurai code was to commit harakiki rather than be imprisoned for that was more honorable. This is why, during WWII, whenever US soldiers took a Japanese base, they would find the base full of dead officers. Those officers killed themselves rather than be captured. So, I personally, see Jef's death as a ceremonial suicide that is more honorable (to him) than going to jail. But that's just my opinion. What do you think?
DeleteC.J. Barrett:
DeleteThanks for pointing that out, that actually makes so much more sense than what I originally got from watching the film.
Tayia Groesbeck-
ReplyDeleteWell I didn't really understand this movie all that well. This may be a little weird but I thought the main guy person was kinda cute and he reminded me of this kid off of my favorite tv show called Degrassi.
What I liked about this movie is the bird always knew when something was wrong and jumped around. I thought it was weird that the lady didn't tell the cops that he was the guy that murdered that one guy because if it was me who witnessed a murder I would tell them he was the killer.
This film was typical film noir because it was a crime theme and that's what film noir basically is.
Good job identifying film noir. That will serve you well when writing about movies in the future because it will give you a tool to use to classify them.
DeleteCool connection to 007. I like how so many students in our class latched onto the bird.
ReplyDeleteThis film works for the French New Wave section of class because it was thought out of differently. (my opinion) Its not your typical bad guy vs cop movie. In this film you had bad guys, your middle man, and the police and its all about the middle man! I think thats awesome. And in this film there was also that one girl, i dont remember the term for her but i know Film Noir's have them. The ending was also pretty weird. I think that everything was just getting overwhealming for him and he was feeling the pressure. He had his assignment and he knew the police were following him. He could have chosen between finishing off that woman or hiding from the police until things cooled down but i think that he knew he had responsibilites and he wasnt willing to just drop them for his own sake. But if that were true he would have gone to the club with at least ONE bullet... maybe he didnt want to kill her and just wanted to look good in her eyes when he died. I dont know! Thats confusing, i would have let the cops shoot me too.
ReplyDeleteGreat insights about how this isn't your typical good vs. bad movie.
DeleteTommy kiter
ReplyDeleteI couldnt really comprehend this movie as much as i should i dont know i kept getting stuck in place i got confused alot. I dont know if it was me but yeah. i like how the bird always knew when like something was up.but this is definatley film noir. not the typical but it is.
basically at the end jef knew he was going to die going to the club n'all. I really cant put out what was going through his mind but if i was i wouldnt know what to think id rather live than die.
What i liked about this movie is their acting they played out so well. I dont really know what i didnt like well i guess i could say is the title like allan said he just let it out there and would have to watch over to get it.overall i would recommend this movie.
I'm glad you're reading Alan's and other's posts and I'm glad you liked the movie.
DeleteI really liked this film. The style of filming and the story are very enjoyable to me. I love that classic 1940's style of almost everything. It's so clean and sharp.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like the fact you asked me what I didn't like about this film. Because I loved it.
This was so film noir because of the lighting and cinematic style. It looked so dramatic and clean. And the visual told a story itself. But the actual story was New Wave. The ending was what made this New Wave to me. When he dies and they find his gun empty. He knew he was going to die that night. So he wanted to die with honor, he didn't want to die a monster. So he took that bullet.Instead of taking a life.
I like this line: "So he took that bullet. Instead of taking a life."
DeleteI also like your comment about not liking that I asked what you didn't like. That's funny.
I absolutely loved this movie, I'm gonna agree with Jessi, I love how its not your normal Bad guy vs cop ordeal, it was more laid back, and I personally feel like thats how it would probably be if it was real life, because the mob wouldn't want to deal with their people being caught, and being a suspect of murder. But I felt like the Mob life was getting to him, he seemed like that wasn't something he wanted to do anymore. And he didn't know how to get out of it, and he didn't want to end up having one of the Mobsters kill him. I don't think he should have killed himself, but that's just my opinion.. I felt like he only did horrible things to please others. But all around, I really liked this movie.
ReplyDeleteGood job reading the other posts and commenting on them.
Delete-Randi Michelle :)
ReplyDeleteI think he killed himself because he would rather die by the people trying to catch him, than actually get caught by them. One of the honours of being a samurai is not to be taken by the enemy, right? And I think he knew he was dishonouring that by getting caught..so his only other option was to commit suicide. I don't understand it personally, and I'm not really sure if I'm right either since my brain decided to make me fall asleep multiple times, so I didn't really know what was going on.
I'm not really sure if I liked or disliked this movie. I thought the samurai assassin guy was freaking GORGEOUS. He did some pretty "hard/bad ass" things too, which made him seem even cooler. The things he said, the things he did, everything was just a joy for me. I didn't like the fact on how I fell asleep literally a BILLION TIMES so I didn't even know what was happening through most of the entire movie. I'd really like to watch it again though, it seems just like how the back description described it to be!
I like your explanation of why he killed himself. I agree with you and that is my new opinion about the end of the movie :)
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