Canicule (aka Dog Day) (1984)

Set in France, after a bank heist goes horribly wrong leaving a slew of innocent people dead, one of the robbers (Lee Marvin) flees to the countryside where he hides in the barn of a farming family. He's a cold blooded killer but he might have met his match in the dysfunctional but deadly family who know who he is and wants his money. Based on the novel by Jean Herman and directed by Yves Boisset (L'ATTENTAT), this is a nasty piece of goods. All the characters are despicable, even the little brat (David Bennent, THE TIN DRUM) who frequents brothels. Who's there to root for or invest sympathy in? The only character I felt sorry for was the old housekeeper (Muni) driven to suicide. By the time the movie is over over half the cast is dead and good riddance! That being said, I must confess I quite enjoyed it and the malevolent intentions and machinations of its characters is as fun to watch in its way as the deviousness of the Southern family in THE LITTLE FOXES. Nearing the end of his career (he would do only one more film), the aging Marvin may be top billed and the "star" of the film but he's there to give it box office value in the U.S., it's really an ensemble film. It was never released theatrically in the U.S. but an English dub version went straight to video. With Miou-Miou, Victor Lanoux, Jean Carmet, Pierre Clementi, Bernadette Lafont, Jean Claude Dreyfus and Tina Louise, the only other American in the cast.