Flic Story *** (1975, Alain Delon, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Renato Salvatori, Claudine Auger, André Pousse) – Classic Movie Review 12,509

Director Jacques Deray’s sombre and doomy but involvingly written and well acted action-packed 1975 French real-life crime thriller film Flic Story is based on the autobiography of French police detective Roger Borniche. It stars Alain Delon as Borniche and Jean-Louis Trintignant as Buisson, the small-time gangster and big-time multiple murderer he pursues over nine years after his escape from custody in 1947.

Flic Story is tense and moody, with eye-catching, roving and probing cinematography by Jean-Jacques Tarbès, some of it on ideal local Paris locations, and a neat, atmospheric original score by Claude Bolling, both fascinating products of their time, as is the film itself. Exciting bursts of action punctuate fairly long dialogue scenes, these quite studio bound. Intelligence is at work on the film-making and the script-writing. It is all very non Hollywood. It is a very good example of its French neo noir Seventies gangster movie kind, a credit to director Jacques Deray and Alain Delon as producer. Delon was on a roll at this time.

As the movie’s star, Delon, constantly smoking, looks splendidly haunted and world weary, far from the man in Plein Soleil, and it is interesting to have him on the right side of the law, giving life to a thoughtful, intelligent, though vaguely morally ambiguous character. Trintignant makes a memorably villain, raging coolly, an oddly charming killer, sometimes plotting carefully, other times just giving way to his murderous instincts, a most dangerous man. The film is all about the two men, and the police and low life atmosphere. And that is entirely enough.

French police brutality is shown, with Borniche’s underlings gleefully torturing witnesses for confessions, but Borniche is carefully shown to have no part in it, and vocally disapproves, though he still allows it to continue. A bit morally flawed then, as is the character’s respect for and deep understanding of the killer, the very things though that allow him to capture the killer then interrogate him successfully. It’s interesting stuff.

Women of course have a bad time in the film, Claudine Auger (remembered as Domino in the 1965 film Thunderball) is there merely to look decorative as Borniche’s girlfriend Catherine (who in reality was Martine Borniche, Roger’s wife). And there are only three or four other women, all side issues, though the actresses make the most of their minimal screen time.

Bénédicte Kermadec and Alphonse Boudard worked with Deray to adapt Roger Borniche’s autobiography for the screen.

Flic Story began production on February 3, 1975 and was released in France on October 1, 1975. It was released in the US as Cop Story from 1975 to 1977.

The film was produced by Delon, as Adel Productions, along with Italy’s Lira Films.

It runs 112 minutes.

[Spoiler alert] Buisson was executed on February 28, 1956.

The cast are Alain Delon as Roger Borniche, Jean-Louis Trintignant as Emile Buisson, Renato Salvatori as Mario Poncini, Claudine Auger as Catherine, Maurice Biraud as patrol of the Saint-Appoline hotel,  André Pousse as Jean-Baptiste Buisson, Mario David as Raymond Pelletier, Paul Crauchet as Paul Robier, Denis Manuel as Lucien Darros, Marco Perrin as Commissioner Viechens, Henri Guybet as Hidoine, Maurice Barrier as Rene Bollec, Françoise Dorner as Suzanne Bollec, William Sabatier as Ange, and Adolfo Lastretti as Jeannot.

Talking of cigarettes, Alain Delon is a French brand of cigarettes, owned and manufactured by Altadis, named after the French actor. It was launched in 1992 for the Japanese market and is popular in Asia because Delon’s 1975 film Zorro was the first foreign movie that played in China.

Talking of flics, following his crime hit Un Flic (1972), Delon made Flic Story (1975), Pour la Peau d’un Flic (1981), Parole de Flic (1985) and Ne Réveillez pas un Flic qui Dort (1988).

Delon is the credited director of two films: Pour la Peau d’un Flic (1981) and Le Battant (1983) but has produced many films, mostly via the production company Adel Productions he started in 1968.

He appeared in nine films directed by Jacques Deray, including La Piscine (1969).

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,509

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