One of my all time favorites.

one of my absolute favorites!

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This movie amazed me. I've read most of Jim Thompson's novels (The Grifters, The Killer Inside Me), and this story "Pop. 1280" is one of his best. It is a complex and dark tale told in first person narrative by a protagonist, the Sheriff in a small Southern town, who is both a liar and a sociopathic killer, yet believes himself to be the good guy just doing the inevitable in his situation while all the while playing the town fool. It would seem a hard novel to adapt to film, but Bertrand Tavernier adapts the story to 1930's Senegal flawlessly, and captures the essence of Jim Thompson's writing better than any other film adaptation I have seen of his books. The cinematography is beautiful, long slow shots languishing on one scene after another perfectly capturing the atmosphere of the mid-day lethargy of the African desert. Great acting here too; Philippe Noiret, Isabelle Huppert and the rest of the cast are superb and utterly convincing in their roles. This film is a gem, one of the best film noirs ever.

The story is pure trash and that is where the film gets its charm and class from: In a French colony in Africa in 1938, Lucien Cordier (Philippe Noiret) is a policeman in a village which is mostly inhabited by Africans and only a few racist, empty-headed Europeans. He is abased by everybody and always looks away when something illegal happens. On one day, Lucien is fed up with the humiliation and starts to take revenge on his humblers.The characters have as much depth as the ones in a Disney comic book, and the break in Lucien's behavior from the friendly, jerky cop to the murdering, planning ahead thinker seems to be quite odd, but not only for that, the story never bores. It is actually very witty with many hilarious situations: All the deeply macabre murder scenes and shot downs, a blind man who yells: "Get out of my sight!", or the dodgy relationship between Lucien, his wife, her lover, and Lucien's two mistresses, in addition to the documentary-style steady-cam, makes the whole scenery, admittedly unrealistic and bizarre, but very entertaining and, at the end, a bit thoughtful. Also, it's always a tremendous delight to watch the grand Philippe Noiret, who sadly passed away not a long time ago.

The main character is a corrupt, weak and feckless officer of the law in a small colonial African village. After enduring insults and beatings, he slowly changes into a kind of Dirty Harry. As in "Nobody's Fool" (Paul Newman) and "As Good As It Gets" (Jack Nicholson), a corrupt man redeems himself by acts of kindness and bravery

written by jim thompson, originally located in Florida, adapted by Tavernier, suspected by american viewers --- does it make sense ? the Thompson novel ? Who read it ? Not me, did not know it existed, how did Tavernier find it ? His mind more open ? I know, too many question marks, but there are many excellent movies (films) made out of (below) average novels - "The Informer" or "The Shop on the Main Street" come to mind. It seems to me that the Hollywood formula for sex and violence has you by the "cojones" and has got to include a lot of music - especially in a "film noir". If it does not then the film is "too noir", what you gonna do about it ???