Le Samouraï
| Le Samouraï | |
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| Directed by | Jean-Pierre Melville |
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| Cinematography | Henri Decaë |
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| Music by | François de Roubaix |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
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| Language | French |
| Box office | 1.9 million admissions (France) $218,495 (US re-release) |
Le Samouraï (French pronunciation: [lə sa.mu.ʁa.i]; lit. 'The Samurai') is a 1967 neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, and Cathy Rosier. A Franco-Italian production, it depicts the intersecting paths of a professional hitman (Delon) trying to find out who hired him for a job and then tried to have him killed, and the Parisian commissaire (Périer) trying to catch him.
The film was released on 25 October 1967, and it sold over 1.9 million tickets in France. It received positive reviews, with particular praise given to Melville's screenwriting and atmospheric direction, and Delon's performance. An English-dubbed version of the film was released in the U.S. in 1972 as The Godson.
Delon and Melville crystallize a film cited as one of the most influential in history, which will become an essential reference for many filmmakers. Many New Hollywood films and critical successes contain explicit references to Le Samouraï and the character of Jef Costello played by Delon.