DEATH OF A CORRUPT MAN/ MORT D’UN POURRI

France, 1977, 123 minutes, Colour.
Alain Delon, Ornella Muti, Stephane Audran, Mireille Darc, Maurice Ronet, Michel Aumont, Jean Bouise, Klaus Kinski.
Directed by Georges Lautner.

During the 1960s and 1970s, and Alain Delon was at the height of his stardom, appearing in a range of films by celebrated directors, making films in Hollywood, but contributing a steady flow of crime thrillers, especially during the 1970s. This is where this film fits in. He collaborated also with a number of directors including Jacques Deray and Georges Lautner.

This is a political thriller with a very strong cast, beginning with a confession by a corrupt politician, Maurice Ronet that he has killed a significant crime personality. Delon plays a lawyer who gets caught up in the intrigues, trying to provide alibis for the politician, encountering his wife who was having an affair, Stephane Audran, his own lover played by Ornella Muti, and a sinister powerbroker played by Klaus Kinski.

Political intrigue is always interesting. So are corrupt politicians and the tangles in which they find themselves, and the continued trails that are discovered which lead to unexpected criminal connections. Added to this, there are also a number of car chases, so popular in the films of the 1970s.

An interesting contribution to the career of Alain Delon and films about French politics and corruption.

1. French politics, 1970s, corruption, business, violence?

2. The Paris settings, scenes of the city, apartments, the police precincts, the streets, freeways and crashes, countryside, the railway station? The musical score?

3. The premise of civic corruption, companies, CEOs, hired thugs, diaries and blackmail, politics and politicians on the take, murder, lies, cover-up?

4. Dubaye, his life, politics, his meeting with his promoter, the argument, the diary, his telling lies about what he had done, the murder? Going to Xav, for protection, an alibi, his wife and her drinking, his mistress in the apartment, concealing the files, the instruction to Xav? His being murdered?

5. Xav, an Alain Delon character, in himself, age, the opening with the girl, his relationship? The phone call, Philippe, going to see him, listening to the story, giving him an alibi? Seeing him in action, going to the scene of the crime and being photographed, the encounter with the police, Pernais, Moreau? His always having answers? Going to the police office, his covering for Philippe, his discovering Philippe dead? His being a suspect, going to the apartment, the crash on the highway, meeting Valerie, helping her to escape, the file, protecting her, in the cafe and the street, the phone calls, the police following him? Valerie going to her friend’s house? Going to the studio, the modelling, photographing the documents? The range of pages? The decision as to what pages should be publicised, what individuals to be targeted, hypocritical politicians, immoral yet against pornography and abortion?

6. Tomski, international business, the meetings, the hunt and the shooting? His role in the corruption?

7. The variety of lawyers, the lawyer for Christiane, the various businessmen, underlings, communicating, threats? Xav, the meetings, the threats, his winning out?

8. Xav, his driver, the crash on the freeway, Xav leaving and coping?

9. Xav and the information about the killer, his being taken in by the police, Valerie and her confiding in the police? Pernais and his wanting to retire, salmon fishing? Moreau and his strong stances?

10. The station, Moreau and his motivations, righteous, killing, cleansing society, his being recorded, arrested?

11. The moral stances of the film and of the characters?