And Hope to Die [La course du lièvre à travers les champs] *** (1972, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Robert Ryan, Lea Massari, Aldo Ray, Tisa Farrow) – Classic Movie Review 8892

Director René Clément’s fair, often compelling, but muddled 1972 international thriller And Hope to Die [La course du lièvre à travers les champs] stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as Antoine Cardot aka Froggy, a French crook on the run in Canada who gets on the wrong side of gypsies and Charley Ellis (Robert Ryan)’s group of criminals planning a big robbery and kidnapping.

The cast (also Aldo Ray, Tisa Farrow, Lea Massari), location filming in Montréal, Québec (including Expo ’67) and Canada’s countryside (as well as in the studio at Paris Studios Cinéma, Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France), and Francis Lai’s music score all help to compensate for the difficulties of filming the downright peculiar story. It is fascinating as an adaptation of a David Goodis novel.

The original European version runs 140 minutes. It was cut to 127 minutes, then to 99 minutes in the US. The original title translates as The Hare Race through the Fields.

It is the film debut of Emmanuelle Béart as Child (uncredited). Also in the cast are Jean Gaven, Nadine Nabokov, André Lawrence, Daniel Breton, Don Arrès, Aubert Pallascio, Jean Coutu, Jean-Marie Lemieux, Michel Maillot, and Mario Verdon.

And Hope to Die [La course du lièvre à travers les champs] is directed by René Clément, runs 140 minutes, 127 minutes, or 99 minutes, is made by Greenwich Film Productions, is released by Compagnie Commerciale Française Cinématographique (CCFC) (1972) (France) and 20th Century Fox (1972) (US), is written by Sébastien Japrisot, based on the David Goodis novel, is shot in Eastmancolor by Edmond Richard, is produced by Serge Silberman and is scored by Francis Lai, with Art Direction by Pierre Guffroy.

The Burglar (1957) is another adaptation of a David Goodis novel.

René Clément’s masterwork is the 1960 Plein Soleil.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8892

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