Death of a Corrupt Man

1977 [FRENCH]

Crime / Drama / Thriller

3
IMDb Rating 6.8/10 10 2893 2.9K

Plot summary

In the middle of the night, deputy Philippe Dubaye wakes up his old friend Xavier Maréchal with disturbing news: he has just killed Serrano, a racketeer with extant political connections. Serrano kept proofs of Dubaye's involvement in corrupt dealings and was poised to use them against the deputy. Xavier readily agrees to cover up for his old pal Philippe, but he soon runs into difficulties. Nobody believes Dubaye's alibi. And everybody -- influential personalities, powerful businessmen, dubious go-betweens and the police -- wants to get hold of the documents that served to blackmail Dubaye; by all possible means...

Top cast

Ornella Muti as Valérie
Alain Delon as Xavier 'Xav' Maréchal
Stéphane Audran as Christiane
Klaus Kinski as Nicolas Tomski
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1.11 GB
1204*720
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  fr  
23.976 fps
2 hr 3 min
Seeds ...
2.06 GB
1792*1072
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  fr  
23.976 fps
2 hr 3 min
Seeds 2

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by brogmiller 7 / 10

Power attracts the corruptible.

Those who anticipate, as I did, that this will be yet another of the Alain Delon 'policiers' of this period, are in for a pleasant surprise.In the classic French policier/film noirs the goodies and the baddies are sharply defined but in the hybrid 'neo-polar' genre that flourished in the 1970's one is none too sure whom to trust. The dark and sinister forces at work here are the corrupt politicians, dodgy policemen and shadowy multi-nationals.This stylish piece directed by Georges Lautner is arguably one of the best of its type. It is a little verbose but with dialogue by Michel Audiard spoken by this excellent cast one doesn't mind too much.The 'uncredited' contribution to the screenplay by Claude Sautet serves to enhance the film's quality.Alain Delon is at the height of his popularity here and received a César nomination for his performance as a moral crusader. He both produces and stars and again plays opposite the splendid Maurice Ronet while Stéphane Audran, Daniel Ceccaldi and Klaus Kinski are great value as always. By all accounts Herr Kinski, much to everyone's surprise and relief, turned out to be a real pussycat. Delon's partner at the time, Mireille Darc, who made a few films for this director, has a pretty thankless role as Delon's partner! The eye candy is supplied by Ornella Muti. Who is the murderer? Well, as Agatha Christie reminds us, it is always the one you suspect the least.Tremendous production values here with legendary Henri Decae replacing Lautner's regular cameraman Maurice Fellous. Lautner has again used the much respected composer Philippe Sarde and as a bonus we have the sound of the saxaphone played by the brilliant but troubled Stan Getz. The film just about sustains its length.France is certainly no stranger to political scandals so this particular genre must really have struck a cord but of course the French do not have a monopoly in this regard.As a certain Henry Kissinger once observed: "Corrupt politicians make the other 10% look bad"!
Reviewed by

Reviewed by blanche-2 6 / 10

French conspiracy movie

"Death of a Corrupt Man" from 1977 is a French film produced by Alain Delon's company, starring Delon, Ornella Muti, Stephanie Audran, Maurice Ronet, Klaus Kinski, and Delon's companion at that time, Mirelle Darc.

A deputy, Philippe Dubaye (Ronet) gets his old friend Xavier Maréchal (Delon) up in the dead of night. He says he has just killed racketeer, Serrano, who had many political connections. Serrano had proof of Dubaye's involvement in corruption in high places and was ready to use them against him.

Xav agrees to give his friend an alibi, which is not believed by the police. Everyone wants those documents and figure that Xav must have them. There are multiple car chases and attempts on his life and that of Dubaye's girlfriend (Muti).

Good film that is somewhat timely today, with all its talk of politicians stealing, people in government just in it for the money, blackmail, etc. Delon, who in this dubbing sounds like Robert Conrad, is strong in his role, as are Kinski and Audran. Ornella Muti is positively gorgeous. Mirelle Darc was only in the film because of Delon; her part could have been cut and as it was, she only had a few lines. And how about this - an Alain Delon film with no love scene. Dubbed on top of it, which I hate.

Delon favored this type of role, as evidenced by the films he produced. I saw him later in a documentary done 37 years later. Everyone recognized him, at 81, and wanted a photo with him. He was very obliging.

Read more IMDb reviews

1 Comment

Be the first to leave a comment