Three Men to Kill [Trois Hommes à Abattre] *** (1980, Alain Delon, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Michel Auclair, Pierre Dux) – Classic Movie Review 5554

Alain Delon stars as a laconic professional gambler, who is relentlessly tracked down by hitmen, in the exciting 1980 French crime thriller Three Men to Kill [Trois Hommes à Abattre].

Working with director Jacques Deray as producer and co-writer, Alain Delon finds himself a useful role in the fairly taut, well handled and exciting 1980 French low-life crime thriller Three Men to Kill [Trois Hommes à Abattre].

The 45-year-old Delon stars as Michel Gerfaut, a laconic professional gambler earning his living as a poker player, who is relentlessly tracked down by hitmen after he helps the victim of a car crash on a lonely country road. He does not know that the injured stranger was shot by the hitmen, who now want to eliminate Gerfaut as a potential witness. Italian model and actress Dalila Di Lazzaro co-stars as Michel’s beautiful girlfriend Béa.

It was a great box office hit, easily popular enough in France to spawn a fast sequel, For a Cop’s Hide [Pour La Peau d’un Flic] in 1981 and a third film in a similar visual and narrative style, Le Battant (1983).

The screenplay by Deray, Delon and Christopher Frank is based on the novel Le Petit Bleu de la Côte Ouest by Jean-Patrick Manchette.

Also in the cast are Pierre Dux, Michel Auclair, Simone Renant, Pascale Roberts, Jean-Pierre Darras, François Perrot, Pierre Belot, André Falcon, Féodor Atkine and Christian Barbier.

The film was released in France on 31 October 1980 and became Delon’s biggest hit in seven years, since Two Against the Law [Two Men in Town] (1973).

In Japan, the distributors cut the finale and gave the film a happy ending, coincidentally resembling the ending of the novel more closely.

Alain Delon in 1964.

The cast are Alain Delon as Michel Gerfaut, Dalila Di Lazzaro as Béa, Michel Auclair as Leprince, Pierre Dux as Emmerich, Pascale Roberts as Mrs Borel, Simone Renant as Mrs Gerfaut, Lyne Chardonnet as nurse, Jean-Pierre Darras as Chocard, Bernard Le Coq as Gassowitz, François Perrot as Etienne Germer, André Falcon as Jacques Mouzon, Féodor Atkine as Leblanc, Daniel Breton as Carlo, Christian Barbier as Liethard.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5554

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