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Saturday, May 1, 2010

Le Soleil Des Voyous (aka Action Man) (1967)

A reformed crook (Jean Gabin) is bored with respectability and when an old friend (Robert Stack) from his past shows up, it gives him an excuse to put into play a plan for robbing the local bank. What he didn't count on was the gold digging tramp (Margaret Lee) who cuts herself in on the job. Based on the novel THE ACTION MAN by J.M. FLYNN and directed by Jean Delannoy (VENERE IMPERIALE). This heist caper is pretty standard stuff. This would have made a great 1940s film noir with Edward G. Robinson, John Garfield and Veronica Lake in the Gabin, Stack and Lee roles. Alas the transfer I saw was a horribly dubbed into English print and the lines were lucky if they remotely matched the lip movements. But at least it was in its proper wide screen ratio.  Hopefully, in its native French language it plays smoother. The melodic score is by Francis Lai (A MAN AND A WOMAN). With Suzanne Flon as Gabin's disapproving wife and in a scene stealing role Lucienne Bogaert as a criminally bent senior.

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