The Crook (Le Voyou)

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YEAR: 1970

WRITER: Claude LeLouch

DIRECTOR: Claude LeLouch

BUDGET: ?

GROSS: ?

although i am a movie fanatic there are a bunch of films and directors whose movies i have just never seen.  this isn't the time to get into the list of movies i am ashamed to say i haven't seen (at some point in the future that list will get posted), but needless to say that when it comes to directors, claude lelouch would be on it.  that is until a few days ago when i watched The Crook. 

i know most people would probably start with lelouch's palm d'or winning, A Man And A Women, but i wasn't looking for a lelouch film.  i was just wandering through the aisle of movies at my local video store, as i tend to do, when i just happened to see The Crook sitting on the shelf.  something about it caught my eye and i took it home: i was in the mood for a crime/thriller, and given that it was a lelouch film i could go ahead and kill two birds with one stone.

the point of all that is to say that i really liked this movie.  it is such a smart crime film with intelligence, wit, humor and a style that has become all too common today in the way many hip film makers attempt to tell their stories.  i know i'm being vague here, but this is a film that provides a much more exciting experience for the viewer if you know as little as possible going in. the confusion that comes at a point, and the excitement of figuring out what is going on without lelouch ever telling you, is part of the joy of watching the film (and might even make you go back and watch certain parts again to see what actually happened).  i would not be surprised if directors such as tarantino quoted The Crook as an influence on his film making.

The film stars jean-louis trintingnant (who also starred in A Man And A Women) as a man who has escaped from a french prison.  he returns to paris to retrieve the money that he had hid away prior to getting sent to jail, and contact his former fiancee who is now remarried.  ok, thats all you are getting.

The Crook is the first claude lelouch film i have ever seen, but based on this experience it will definitely not be the last.

Comments

[brian]

I first came upon this film in french while channel-surfing. It was somewhere just before the scene where Janine (Christine Lelouch) is first introduced to her role in the caper, leading to the telephone call. Needless to say, i was both mystified and hooked into following this film through. It was pretty confusing to come into it half-way like that. So, when i finally got hold of a copy again, i noted that it's pretty darned confusing, anyway. But that's no diss on this terrific flick.

There are so many terrific scenes in the film! I love the shot of Simon quizzing Gallois in the car for some reason. And, of course, Janine counting the seconds down before telephoning Gallois.

One beef i have with Le Voyou (after seeing it several times now) is that the final scene is really quite horrible. I mean, there are one or two 70s-era scenes that are a bit lame by today's standards, but that last scene is just unnecessary, IMHO. And, of course, the opening scene does drag on a wee bit long.

In all, though, i'd love to see Criterion re-issue this great film. It captures an era and plays up a genre very well. Merci, Simca!