French cinema’s two matinee idols Alain Delon (as Roch Sifferedi) and Jean Paul Belmondo (as Francois Capella) stars as two conmen brawling with each other for a dame and than making a pair of gangsters in period setting of 30’s Marseilles, directed by Jacques Deray. They play small time crime sharing their cut in racing, boxing, fish market but an attempt to play big game with city’s shark becomes an open invitation to danger and friction between them. Soon things settled and they become the unchallenged kings until another man rise in power by breaking the pair permanently.
The title of the film is misnomer
as it has nothing to do with the plot or story except that the main characters
wear fedora hats generally made famous on screen by gangster cinema and
manufactured by the company of the same name during 1920-40. Undoubtedly the
chemistry between suave and sophisticated Delon and rustic and precarious
Belmondo is absolute highlight of the film and they as memorable one as
Newman-Redford in ‘Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid’. The other high points of
the film are brilliant period production design, awesome camerawork; Claude
Bolling’s rocking score and Deray’s stylistic direction surely wishful things
to watch. Maybe I would not exaggerate to say that the film like this surely
remained inspiration for big Hollywood directors who brought new dimensions to crime
and gangster films in 70’s ranging from Coppola, Scorsese and De Palma but
there are ample clues of it if one watch it carefully.
Must say one of the one of the
underrated gangster film of it’s time and surely a treat for me and for all
those cinephiles who remain unsatisfied no mater how many crime/gangster films
they’ve seen and still look forward to explore something classic of that genre.
Ratings-8.5/10
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