Good concept, poorly executed.

Don't Believe the Hype

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

First, it is not the policier who you expect. against the same lines, Jean Gabin in a well known role and the last scenes. it is different for a simple reason - because the sentimental side is well developed, because the presence ( and music) of Serge Gainsbourg and for Dany Carrel performance. and for the flavor of a story political incorrect but solide and coherent and seductive. a film about the justice, friendship and choices. useful for old memories. and for the trip in the frame of a period, with its sensitivities, taste and options. a world. like an refuge.

Jean Gabin made some tremendous movies throughout his long career, this was one I'd never seen before and although not tremendous is a pretty good absorbing gangster yarn. On the other hand the dead body count is most definitely tremendous, paradoxically human life seemed to have cheapened in value over his career.Tale of violent robberies followed by violent murders by a violent nutter, but the murder of his old childhood friend the sucker Albert really riles Police Comissaire Gabin. He dogs the baddies footsteps and eventually arranges his come-uppance in his role of official police avenger. And he's in charge and he's fed up with the seemingly endless supply of crooks. The spoiler alert is because when Dany Carrel - who I must say never looked lovelier than in here - gets pointlessly shot the film also shoots itself in the foot too and never quite recovers its direction. It left an exclamation point over my head; in fact the later train robbery reminded me of an old Keystone film in its lack of realism. Also the denouement reminded me of The Train except not poignant at all. However, overall the film was well made, flabby Gabin was eye-catching and impeccable as usual (but thankfully he wasn't asked to swing with the semi-naked hippies though!), and you're never bored.Personally I've always regarded Gabin's later films as being much more dated than his work from thirty years earlier – this is no exception. Jour Se Leve and Grand Illusion may have passed into Timelessness, and although this flimsy outing never will it's still entertaining.

It's probably the movie I have the most seen in my entire life. The first time was in 1972, a Sunday evening, on the first channel. I was only nine years old, and was astonished at this time. Since then, I have never missed any of the airing of this french masterpiece. First, the armored truck heist of the beginning, somewhere in the north of France countryside, with the Serge Gainsbourg soundtrack (Requiem pour un con)is absolutely terrific. I consider it as the most outstanding armored truck attack of the whole crime movie industry. And I am a specialist for this kind of topic - see my other comments. I guess many other film makers were inspired by this sequence. Olivuer Marchall, for 36, Quai des Orfèvres, confessed he was. And Andre Pousse, as Quinquin, the ruthless killer, is also here brilliant at the most. I say he gives in this feature his best performance ever. Unforgettable. When he kills Dany Carrel, It's so good, because you don't expect this. Or this other scene, just after he has killed on of his accomplices with his wife, he quietly checks the horse race tickets while looking for the results on the TV. And concerning one point which has not been told about by the other users, is the police settings. We see a very modern police headquarters, with computers, and the film was made in 1968...Even three decades later, the Quai des Orfèvres - the actual french police headquarters - so know all around the world - was not like this. So nothing is really realistic in this film. Nothing to do with the new french crime movies à la Olivier Marchall. I won't talk about the Alpine Renault used by the police officer, with Jean Gabin sitting in it !!!Yes folks, this is a must see film for those who have missed it.

This was another Jean Gabin vehicle which often turned up on Italian TV; having decided to check it out, I'm glad I did because it's a pretty good policier! Despite his advancing age, the star is wholly believable as the dogged Police Commissioner (the "Pacha" of the title) - out to avenge his childhood, albeit shady, friend - who's also something of an amiable curmudgeon. The film features an elaborate daylight robbery sequence - after which one member of the gang eliminates all his associates in order to keep the loot for himself (one of them is pushed inside his car onto thin ice which naturally breaks and engulfs him)! - and is fast-paced, and short, enough to never overstay its welcome. Besides, it's given a tremendous boost by a modern percussion-heavy score by celebrated performer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg (who even appears as himself during a recording session of the tune heard over the opening credits!).There's also a hilarious scene in which the old-fashioned Gabin visits a hippie club - in search of a girl (Dany Carrel of MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN [1960]) who, apart from being a fling of Gabin's deceased colleague, is a link to the robbery mentioned above since she's the sister of one of the culprits (now also dead). Therefore, she and Gabin conspire to trap the man responsible for both deeds and the film ends with an indiscriminate shoot-out - punctuated by an ominous organ drone - in an abandoned warehouse (which curiously anticipates the climax of THE FRENCH CONNECTION [1971]!).