Borsalino (1970)

Very good movie. I watched the original French version without English subtitles and although I struggled a bit with the language it was easy to follow even though my French is not fluent. What really surprised me is that the ratings for Borsalino so far have not been higher - as far as French gangster movies go I would consider it within my top 5. It is pacey with lots of action and unlike some French movies,I was never bored once watching it. The combination of Jean Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon as Capella and Siffredi worked very well and Michel Bouquet's performance as Rinaldi was also very good. My only criticism of Borasalino was that there were too many female characters linked with Capella and Siffredi and we never really learnt more about them as the story progressed. Otherwise a movie I would recommend.

As chic and stylish as the eponymous hat,"Borsalino" is a hugely enjoyable exercise in post - modern - irony many years before that genre was actually invented.It features two of French Cinema's most iconic male actors guying their movie personas very amiably,wearing great suits and exhibiting that deadly combination of charm and danger that sets many a woman (and not a few men) a - tremble. It is so essentially Gallic you can almost smell the croissants,coffee and "Gitanes". The boys smoke and drink with innocent enjoyment,tote their gats with huge panache and altogether have a hell of a time. Their more "serious" movies are lauded by critics,"Borsalino" often dismissed as makeweight - a pot - boiler.Anybody who thinks that has no idea how hard good comedy is. This is a near - perfect movie.The score by pianist/composer Claude Bolling is exactly fittling. If you fell asleep watching some "nouvelle vague" classic about a miserable rat - faced hero wandering the wet pavements of Paris looking for something he'll never find,"Borsalino" will restore your dormant love of le styl Francais.

When a movie pairs Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo, casting them as initially small-time crooks who work their way up the underworld ladder in 30's France, I think we have a right to expect something better than this. Pedestrian direction and a script that manages to be both dull and rushed make for a pretty unexciting movie. The stars are as charismatic as ever, but that isn't enough. (**)

Jacques Deray, who directed gangster genre movies almost exclusively, has achieved his most popular success (in America) with this movie. It was a stroke to combine the two leading men in roles which were cut out for each of them. Credit for this must go (in part, at least) to Alain Delon, who produced the movie. The very catchy, and hummable music for this movie was by the prolific composer, Claude Bolling, who collaborated with Deray on other films.My only carping criticism is the length of the movie. I feel that about 15 minutes could have been trimmed in order to keep it moving.