The Godson
1967
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
I apologize for taking so long with this post. I had trouble finding this one and took to just googling it everyday. I eventually found a link that worked, though it might be gone already. I would advise my fellow List followers to track down this film as soon as they can.
Fair warning: the plot summary makes the movie sound a lot more interesting than it actually is. In fact, the things I didn't like about this film (the pacing, the woodenness of the lead) are exactly the things that are most praised. I know everybody has different tastes, but surely watching an expressionless face for an hour and a half would get on anybody's nerves? No?
Jef Costello is a hit man who... does some things. Huh. This is a hard plot to describe without giving away spoilers. As I mentioned, this character never seems to be fazed by anything and is stone-faced throughout the entire film (much like I was when I was watching it). I get that this was his character, but it did get a bit dull after awhile.
There are quite a few good action scenes in this film but I was still bored throughout most of it. Still worth a watch, though; I think I am just getting harder and harder to please.
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
No dialogue for the first ten minutes of the film.
The caged bird that Jef owns later died in a fire. But that was my favorite character!
Three stars for a film that had you bored is pretty good..
ReplyDeleteI liked this one.. but I can see all the points you made..
I am trying to be fairer about boring films but it is tough!
DeleteSure the story is slow, but the style, wow, it is so awesome cool.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to the bird getting a mention in your 1960s Best Actor Oscar category.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot to laugh at here. Alain Delon doesn't convince, for me. He's too clean and not nearly aged enough to look like he's involved in anything grimy. A bit like his raincoat.
The out-of-town garage he goes to looks like the rural back entrance to Adam West's Bat Cave. It's even got an Alfred the Butler there to change number plates for him. A gun appears out of thin air into his hands near the end when he kills the gang leader. And what's the point of the ending? If he doesn't want to kill the pianist, why go to the bar in the first place?
But, I'll still choose to enjoy it for what it was. Atmospheric, tense, exciting and quite different to anything else I've seen on the list since the days of noir. Once again, a French thriller comes up trumps.