THE OUTSIDE MAN 1972

    After the massive success of William Friedkin's THE FRENCH CONNECTION in 1971, there was a flood of urban police action/dramas that began popping up on movie screens and along with the release of DIRTY HARRY in that same year, it also ramped up with the output from Europe in particular Italy with the more revenge-oriented action poliziotteschi films.

   Combing neo-noir with more cool/efficient French crime films, THE OUTSIDE MAN was a French/Italian co-production filmed in Los Angeles and was directed by Jacques Deray who specialized in crime thrillers throughout the '60s and into the '90s. Many of his films starred the great Alain Delon and his work is strongly reminiscent of Jean Pierre Melville's crime films of the '50s and '60s, although sadly much of Deray's work remains unknown in America.
   Opening with a helicopter shot of a smoggy downtown Los Angeles and the famous cloverleaf freeway interchange while composer Michael Legrand's funky title song plays over the opening credits (which sounds like we're heading into blaxploitation territory) we're introduced to Lucien Bellon (Jean-Louis Trintignant THE GREAT SILENCE) as he arrives from Paris at LAX. Checking into his hotel he receives a briefcase from the desk clerk left by his "secretary" and going up to his room calmly removes a gun and a large amount of cash from the briefcase.

   Renting an automobile and in a nice touch consulting a map (which foretells his future predicament) he drives to a mansion in Beverly Hills. Cool and emotionless he gains entrance to the house and kills Victor Kovacs (Ted de Corsia familiar from countless classic film-noirs) and while leaving he's seen by Victor's wife Jackie (Angie Dickinson BIG BAD MAMA) and his son Alex (Umberto Orsini GOODBYE EMMANUELLE). It's also quickly revealed that the relationship between Jackie and Carl goes a bit deeper than the usual stepson/stepmother and they later give a false description of the killer to the police with the detective played by Felice Orlandi from BULLITT.
   Arriving back at his hotel Bellon finds his passport, luggage, and money gone effectively stranding him in an unknown city with no support and as he soon discovers, another hitman (Roy Scheider THE SEVEN UPS) is stalking him presumably hired by Jackie and Alex. Escaping to a supermarket parking lot, he kidnaps a mother (Georgia Engel THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW) and her son (Jackie Earle Haley THE DAY OF THE LOCUST). Hiding out in their apartment he gets in touch with the boss back home is put in contact with Nancy (Ann Margaret C.C. AND COMPANY), a waitress in a topless bar who helps him.
   With Nancy's assistance, Bellon gets a new passport while continually avoiding the attempts on his life by Scheider (who's referred to as Lenny or "the guy from Detroit") all the while navigating through an alien city. Scheider's hitman has no problem finding Bellon as he pops up everywhere but then is totally inept at the actual killing as the pair randomly spray bullets throughout the city. At one point Bellon hooks up with a motorcycle gang in the parking lot of the old Tower Records on Sunset and they escort him downtown while at another point he picks up a hippie Jesus-freak who is shot in the head accidentally by the ever-persistent but inept Lenny. The film climaxes with a bizarre sequence at Victor Kovac's funeral with all the characters from the film gather together for a massive shootout with Victor's body embalmed and sitting upright in a chair with a cigar raised silently watching the action.

   One of the more fascinating things to watch for me in films is the way European directors look at America and their take on the landscape and architecture. Here instead of focusing on the tourist L.A., Deray instead shows us the more seedy and genetic aspects of the city including a shoot-out at the decrepit Venice Amusement Pier followed by a chase through over that cites canals. Except for the gangster's Beverly Hills mansion, the movie spends almost the entire running time in hourly-rate motels, diners, topless bars, and rundown apartments and whenever the characters are outside they're lost in endless acres of concrete and highways. Thom Anderson is his excellent documentary L.A. PLAYS ITSELF calls THE OUTSIDE MAN "the most precise portrait of the city there is"
    Deray also shows technology as sometimes intrusive and sometimes quirky as TV's drone away in the background in almost every interior scene, as at one point Bellon listlessly watches STAR TREK. At a bus station, he watches the news concerning himself and the killing on a small coin-operated TV and uses a coin-operated electric razor in the restroom there (which would seem like a hygienic nightmare). The film is reminiscent somewhat of John Boorman's excellent L.A. based neo-noir POINT BLANK with its detached protagonist wandering through a cold mechanized world.

    Jean-Louis Trintignant is magnificent as he coolly and methodically goes upon his assignment during the first part of the picture and then all the while keeping his quiet demeanor as things begin to fall apart during the course of the plot. There's a nice little touch when the only time we see him smile is in a strip of photos he takes in a do-it-yourself photo booth for his passport pictures.
   The entire cast is excellent (this probably Ann Margaret's best role) and Scheider with about five lines of dialogue seems to be having a great time with his role. Coming off the previous year's THE FRENCH CONNECTION he gets the central image in the promotional artwork. French actor Michel Constantin who was a regular in the French crime films of the period shows up as Bellon's boss who arrives to lend a hand and American character actors Ben Piazza and Sidney Chute appear along with John Hillerman as an officious sales clerk in a department store.
  The film was cut to receive a PG rating originally losing some nudity (with some surprising full-frontal stuff) in the topless bar scenes. THE OUTSIDE MAN is available on DVD from MGM through their on-demand service in the full uncut R version, but this really deserves a nice Blu-ray release. Kino has some Jacques Deray scheduled for release later this year as part of their Studio Canal deal, including the excellent THE OUTSIDER with Jean-Paul Belmondo.

  

     

Rosalba Neri Friday # 21 - TONY ARZENTA (BIG GUNS) 1973

  

    A really fine example of 70's Euro crime that features the great Alain Delon as a Mafia hit man out for revenge as he blasts a bloody swath through the underworld (along with various European cites) in this 1973 Italian/French co- production. The film neatly combines the Italian slam bang shooting way of doing things along the more restrained French film noir style and along with a very cold and coolly calculating Delon it also has a terrific line up of co-stars including Richard Conte and Anton Diffring along with Erika Blanc, Carla Gravina and Rosalba. Director Duccio Tessari sets up some really great car chases and the violent stylistic shoot-outs explode with frightening swiftness with each one of them being played out as an individual little movie with their own unique style.

    Alain Delon plays the title character who as loyal and highly regarded hit man for the mob feels that its the time to retire in order to spend more time with his family. Expressing his feelings to boss Nick Gusto (Richard Conte) that he's looking to make a clean break (always a hard thing to do with the organization) to which Gusto expresses his sympathy and promises to talk to the other bosses regarding Tony's proposed retirement. Naturally the other bosses including Han Grunwald (Anton Diffring from Hammer's THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH) all agree that this is an impossible situation and order that Tony instead be eliminated. Gusto reluctantly agrees, but unfortunately the booby-trapped car intended for Tony explodes with his wife and child inside, which sets in motion his bloody vendetta.
    Delon was most famous at this point for his roles in the French crime films of Jean-Pierre Melville including LE SAMURAI, LE CERCLE ROUGE and UN FLIC. During the 70's and 80's he would occasionally appear in low budget films (as well as playing the captain in THE CONCORDE AIRPORT '79) and although by this time in his career he could probably play this type of role in his sleep he's quite good here and brings a great presence to the role.

    Although the plot very early sets this up as just a basic revenge story (and has been used in countless movies) thanks to some excellent character development and a mesmerizing performance by Delon (along with the above mentioned imaginality staged action sequences) it turns into a really excellent movie that  deserves a nice DVD or blu-ray release. Once Tony witnesses the death of his family there's a slow build-up to his retaliation as even though you know what he's going to do (as does he immediately) its fascinating to watch his stoic expressionless face as he attends the funeral of his family (where a priest warns" vengeance is best left to God"), visits his parents and as he quietly sits in his slowly decaying apartment.

   Once the vendetta starts we move from Paris to Milan and Copenhagen with Tony blasting a mobster on train which throws him partway through a window slamming him into signs and finally a bridge abutment and another shooting is punctuated by the bullet passing through the victims body and then exploding an aquarium behind him. Along the way there's several crash filled car chases (with one head on collision that leaves you wondering what happened to the stunt driver). Eventually he hooks up with a mobsters girlfriend (Carla Gravina from Tessari's other cool crime film THE VIOLENT FOUR) who suffers a violent beating trying to protect Tony's whereabouts. There seems to be a bit of romance developing, but with the overall pessimistic atmosphere looming over the proceeding's you know its not destined to be. One of this blogs other favorite actresses Erika Blanc shows up as a doomed prostitute who is set up as a decoy and dies spectacularly in a hail of machine gun bullets.

Dig that cool as heck 8-track player !

    For a long time Rosalba's role in this was a bit of a mystery to me. My first viewing was via a VHS which was picked up from a dealer at a Chiller Show back in the 90's and upon viewing it I found she was nowhere to be seen. A few years ago I found a budget DVD collection called Big Guns Crime Collection in which this was included and although a moderately nicer looking (and longer) print - still no Rosalba. Recently I finally managed to find the region 2 DVD and was rewarded with a very nice looking print and lo and behold Rosalba - in one scene lasting a grand total of about 50 seconds in which she plays the wife of the mobster Cutitta (who's later memorably blown away along with his aquarium). Wearing a black negligee she enters a room where her husband is on the phone, picks up their child and exits.
   However it must be noted she fares better then most of the other female cast members who are all either blown up, shot, beaten up and/or treated horribly by their male partners. Both her and Erika's presence here are bit of a head scratcher (although Erika does have a bit more screen time of the two) but it is pretty cool to see their names together in the opening credits.

    Photographed with a variety of over the shoulder pov's, mirror refections and thru windows with the camera many times focused on the opulent (and very 70's) decor with people set in the background it has a very different look then most other Italian/Euro crime films of the same period. However as often with this genre it does have what would seem to be at first glance to be an oddly lyrical & misplaced soundtrack by Gianni Ferrio (which has been issued on CD), but when listened to in context of he movie works well.
   Next up on Rosalba Neri Friday will be 1973's LA MUERTE INCIERTA in which José Ramón Larraz (VAMPYRES) directs her and Mary Maude (from THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED) in a ghost story set in 1930's India.