Farewell, friend (1968)
French title: Adieu l'ami
Director and screenplay: Jean Herman
Starring: Alain Delon (Dino Barran), Charles Bronson (Franz Propp), Olga Georges-Picot (Isabelle Moreau), Bernard Fresson (Insp. Antoine Méloutis)Plot
(No spoilers)
Two Algerian war veterans, doctor Dino Barran and Canadian mercenary Franz Propp cross paths during demobbing in Marseille. Barran refuses Propp's offer to join him on another paid mission, and instead hooks up with Isabella, the girlfriend of his old trusted colleague. Isabella convinces him to set up as a doctor at her employers, so that he will have access to the company safe. All is not as it seems though; and Franz soon makes a reappearance to get involved.Critique
(Some spoilers)
With Bronson as an established international star from his roles in The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape and The Dirty Dozen, it made sense to team him up with national star Delon and film in English. The laconic pair actually work quite well together: Bronson brings the wry humour, Delon the acerbic menace, and with two such positive magnets in close proximity it's not long before fists start flying. It appears the director had to make sure that both came out of it equally, like Jet Li and Jackie Chan some decades later in The Forbidden Kingdom.
Scenery and photography throughout is thoughtful and makes good use Paris chic and brutalist concrete. Music is serviceable but not François de Roubaix's best.
The dialogue between the two leads, and later the leads and the police inspector, chugs along nicely in a world-weary, 'real man' tone. Strangely enough it was Bronson who was re-dubbed, to sound 'more American'!
The film pivots on an excellent sequence involving both Barran and Propp stuck in a locked vault attempting to crack the safe in turn. This has some very clever sub-plots involving one-upmanship, distrust, trust gained, and tense moments when the guards do their walkabout.
With the vault scene over we move into chase/policier territory and a strong turn by Bernard Fresson as the classic haggard inspector barking orders at his underling flics. Fans of quirky Spaghetti Westerns will love the way that Propp distracts the undercover cops from capturing Barran at the airport. In fact there's a Spaghetti feel throughout - the respect-then-punch relationship is just like Franco Nero and Tony Musante in A Professional Gun from the same year; and Bronson's repeated coin-trick would sit well in many Westerns. The strangest and seediest sequence involves Propp's dame for the night being paraded to a group of well-heeled pervs on a car turntable - before the tables are turned on the toffs and we see a classic Bronson donnybrook.
Finally we wind down to the real reason behind the crime, and the motif of the film: which has certain versions retitled as 'Honour Among Thieves'. The closing shot with Delon out of character is hilarious.
Rating
Good. and an excellent budget 2-for-1 DVD pickup with Bronson's Riders on the Rain
