Le marginal (1983)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Jacques Deray

Writers:

Jacques Deray (writer) &
Jean Herman (writer) ...

Release Date:

26 October 1983 (France)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot Keywords:

Efficiency | Police | Marseille Provence | Marseille | Police Officer

Cast

Jean-Paul Belmondo	...	Commissaire Philippe Jordan
Henry Silva	...	Sauveur Meccacci
Carlos Sotto Mayor	...	Livia Maria Dolores
Pierre Vernier	...	Inspecteur Rojinski
Maurice Barrier	...	Tonton
Claude Brosset	...	Antonio Baldi
Tchéky Karyo	...	Francis Pierron
Jacques Maury	...	Maître Cappa
Roger Dumas	...	Inspecteur Simon
Gabriel Cattand	...	Contrôleur Dumas
Michel Robin	...	Alfred Gonet dit Freddy le chimiste
Jacques David
Jean-Louis Richard	...	Antoine
Didier Sauvegrain	...	Un tueur de Meccaci / Alfred's murderer
Stéphane Ferrara	...	L'indic assassiné

Also Known As:

The Outsider

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Norway:16 | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Cerito Films

Trivia:

Belmondo once again beats his own record for opening week admissions in Paris with 468,000 tickets sold.

Movie Connections:

References Sharky's Machine (1981)

THE OUTSIDER (Jacques Deray, 1983) **1/2

Just as Jean-Paul Belmondo's THE PROFESSIONAL (1981) recalled the Charles Bronson 'loner' action vehicles, this one evokes memories of Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" cop shows…which, by extension, connects it to the Italian poliziotteschi – of which the American co-star of THE OUTSIDER, Henry Silva, was a regular! Anyway, Belmondo is a maverick cop up against drug kingpin Silva: he intercepts a consignment of heroin (chasing the speedboat transporting it via helicopter), but the criminal's influence with city officials gets him transferred from Marseille to a low-life district! As was the case with the earlier film, the credits take care to establish the fact that the ageing star performed his own (often dangerous) stunts; in fact, every fifteen minutes or so, he's seen getting into a scuffle, a chase or a shoot-out – without necessarily advancing the main plot.

Still, in spite of the protagonist's superficial nonchalance, he's shown to have a heart: befriending a hooker, saving a convict's teenage daughter from life as a junkie, and paternally overseeing the 'legitimate' activity of a young small-time crook; when the latter opposes Silva's offer of 'protection' and winds up dead, the conflict between policeman and racketeer becomes a personal one. Mind you, the overall handling is anything but subtle – and blatantly commercial (why else would we be treated to the excess of sleaze on display, including an irrelevant excursion at a gay club?)! The film features another Ennio Morricone score which virtually hinges on a single catchy riff, though it's not quite as haunting as his work on THE PROFESSIONAL. The R2 DVD I rented also featured an Audio Commentary by director Deray which was, unfortunately, unsubtitled and enticing theatrical trailers for two other films Belmondo made for director Philippe De Broca, LE MAGNIFIQUE (1973) and L'INCORRIGIBLE (1975).