There Once Was a Cop [Il Etait une Fois un Flic…] [Cops Is Cops] *** (1972, Michel Constantin, Mireille Darc, Michel Lonsdale, Daniel Ivernel, Alain Delon) – Classic Movie Review 8,435

Michel Constantin stars in director Georges Lautner’s edgy, tough 1972 French police crime thriller Il Etait une Fois un Flic… as a bachelor police commissioner called Campana, who must act like a married man with children in order to nail drug traffickers in Nice.

Constantin is fine in a good role for him as the bachelor police commissioner but the story is fairly routine and the handling is not particularly exciting or imaginative, though it is characterful and does hold together. Michel Lonsdale, Mireille Darc and Daniel Ivernel are all good value too in involving performances as police commissioner Lucas, Christine and Ligmann.

Alain Delon is also back (uncredited) but unfortunately he only makes a guest appearance in a brief cameo as the man who seeks Rodriguez (Robert Castel) and rings at the apartment door where Mireille Darc and Constantin live.

The screenplay by Francis Veber (dialogue and adaptation) is based on the 1968 novel Ttx 75 en Famille by Richard Caron.

There Once Was a Cop [Il Etait une Fois un Flic…] [Cops Is Cops] is directed by Georges Lautner, runs 95 minutes, is made by Gaumont International and Rizzoli Film, is released by Gaumont, is written by Francis Veber (dialogue and adaptation) and Georges Lautner (adaptation), based on the 1968 novel Ttx 75 en Famille by Richard Caron, is shot by Maurice Fellous, is produced by Alain Poiré, is scored by Eddie Vartan and is designed by Damien Lanfranchi.

RIP Mireille Darc [Mireille Aigroz], who died on 28 August 2017, age 79. She enjoyed a long-term relationship with Alain Delon from 1968 to 1982. She took her stage name from Jeanne D’Arc.

Michel Constantin [Constantin Hokhloff] was born on July 13, 1924 and died on August 29, 2003. He was best known for Le Trou (1960), Le Deuxième Souffle (1966), The Outside Man (1972) and Il Etait une Fois un Flic… (1972).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8,435

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com