Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

chnutscher Seeing this movie in 2018, you may wonder about the ratings.The ultra thin story: French secret agent Belmondo, sold out in the middle of his mission -to kill an african president- first searches for the viewers pity as a maltreated prisoner in some african camps. Once he is able to escape -2 years later-, he has nothing in mind than still to kill that president, who visits France and now is in friendly relationship with France, against governamental interests. And yes, with barely no twists at all in the script, he succeeds. That's it.We also witness a 1:1 western style pistol duel, but placed in the middle of Paris. Not later than now, you begin to scratch your head. Of course Belmondo is a legend, liked by men and possibly more by women, but the shadow of this quite sensless script IMO is just to dark to be able to like the movie. As smart, intelligent and charismatic agent he might be in this movie, he can't save it. Also the laconic, repetitive soundtrack, praised by some, IMO does draw down this movie even more, it just emphasizes the inevitability, for which you can't find a reason.

PimpinAinttEasy One of the rare instances when the music composer is the hero. This is Morricone's film. his famous tune "Chi Mai" is played in many scenes and it lifts many ordinary ones to another level.On the surface, the film is like a tongue in cheek revenge drama. Belmondo plays a French Rambo who is sent to an African nation to assassinate its leader. But he is hung out to dry by the French intelligence services and is jailed following a public trial. After a dramatic escape from an African slave camp, Belmondo returns to France to take revenge on the people who betrayed him.But if you look closely, the film is an odd mix of many genres. It is not just an action film. Sure, there is a spaghetti western style shoot out, a pulsating car chase and some seriously violent action. The women are all objects of sex who want to sleep with Belmondo or get coffee for the superiors. But it is also a satire about the incompetence of French intelligence agencies and how the leaders of first world countries and third world countries are in bed with each other. At one point, a French intelligence agent remarks irritably about a countryside mansion (where an African leader and his prostitute are residing) - "Why are we deploying such a large police force to protect this whorehouse?" The gritty and violent beginning in Africa, is at odds with Belmondo's adventures in France. It is not a bad film. I'm sure there is a context which I don't really get because I'm no expert on French politics and foreign policy.Belmondo is awesome. He must have been pretty old when he made this, but he was really pumped up. The women are all nice eye candy. There is even a lesbian torturer who tries to move in on Belmondo's wife only to get a karate chop on her neck.But like I said at the beginning, the real hero of this film is good old Ennio.

eyesour Hilarious 1981 Gallic mash-up of every comic schoolboy adventure story stretching back to Fanfan la Tulipe (Gerard Philipe, 1952), and taking in everything you can think of both before and since. A jolly payday for everyone involved, happily strolling through their parts with varying degrees of thespian competence, but not straining too hard, whether good or truly mediocre. It kept reminding me of other movies: Where Eagles Dare, Day of the Jackal, James Bond, the Bourne trilogy, Good, Bad, Indifferent, Gunfight at OK Sundown, North by Northwest, Charlie Varrick, Leon the Professional, Last King of Scotland, You Name It.Long Leone-type facial close-ups. Plenty of political incorrectness. Sadism, persecution, lesbianism, unconvincing fake punch-ups. Great car chase sequence, with Last Gasp Belmondo, looking leathery and cool, at the wheel, handling his own stunts in the spectacular setting at the Trocadero. Wow! Fabulous anti-Hollywood ending. Weird relationships of love and friendship --- something seminally continental about those. I really couldn't sort them out. Who was doing what to who, exactly? Highly watchable, but I'm suspending all critical faculties by giving it 6 out of 10. Is this rating system working again, yet?

dusan-22 This is the best film on the specific topic of mercenary vigilante model of a film hero highly exploited by Hollywood even today. Everything else is a bad copy of it. I read comment of one user who compares the structural basis of the film with Count Monte Kristo idea which is interesting, but unlike the Count Le Professionnel is the milestone for the bad guys (assassins) that are becoming good during the movie getting all our sympathies, unlike any movie before that. We, the observers, are suffering with their pain and sharing it even though they had been murders in many color pictures just few film minutes ago. Excellent casting and one of the best Belmondo's roles. Morricone music makes one perfect whole, making this film being your favorite, if you are hesitating about that.