my favorite movie of 1967:

Le Samouraï

[French]

(Alain Delon, Nathalie Delon, Cathy Rosier, François Périer. Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.)

This neo-noir about a hitman (Alain Delon) is set in Paris, but not the charmingly sophisticated Paris of so many movies. This is a cold, amoral world of faded colors and muted emotions.

Ebert said:

The elements of the film — the killer, the cops, the underworld, the women, the code — are as familiar as the movies themselves. Melville loved 1930s Hollywood crime movies and in his own work helped develop modern film noir. There is nothing absolutely original in “Le Samouraï” except for the handling of the material. Melville pares down and leaves out. He disdains artificial action sequences and manufactured payoffs.

Ebert concluded his review by saying Melville “has been able to keep constantly in mind his hero’s chief business.” I take that to mean that instead of the exciting, glamorized presentation of career criminals we’re used to seeing in movies, Le Samouraï lets us feel how grim and draining it is to devote your life to death.

The ending of Le Samouraï is the best part, and the most confusing part. I had trouble understanding it, but here are some theories (full of spoilers, of course).

Video analysis of the movie (spoils the ending more than 5 minutes in):

Stream it on the Criterion Channel (with bonus features), Max, Tubi (free with ads), or Kanopy. If you don’t have any of those sites, try a free trial of the Criterion Channel.

Click here for the full list of my favorite movie(s) of each year from 1920 to 2020.

UPDATE (August 18, 2024): Alain Delon has died at age 88.