herbiehancock

No 472 - Le Doulos Director - Jean Pierre Melville Before we begin it is important to talk about the title. The reason I think it is important is that it is the first thing that the film talks about. It should therefore be the first thing I talk about. To quote the pre -title disclaimer: In slang " doulos " refers to a hat, but in the private language of police and underworld it refers to a man "putting it on", a police informer. The film essentially covers a group of gangsters and 3 individual jobs they perform which are all interweaved (a jewel theft, a murder and a robbery). They get in increasing levels of trouble because within the group is a police informant, a snitch. What then follows is a quite painful hour and a bit of watching the main character, Faugel (who will never be as cool as the protagonists of Melville's later work Le Cercle Rouge ), get further and further into trouble and getting more and more pissed off with the informant. We are int...

No 298 - Le Cercle Rouge Director - Jean-Pierre Melville So, I've not posted for a little bit but I have a triple whammy of film posts to put up. Firstly a film I had tried to watch but had had to bail due to a chronic hangover. This was days, if not weeks, ago. I was then under the foolish belief that I wouldn't enjoy it. I was wrong. I don't enjoy HANGOVERS. The film follows two criminals and begins by explaining how they meet up and subsequently join forces for a massive jewelry heist. The first is Corey, fresh out of jail and hustled straight into a job by a corrupt cop. He is sort of the goody I guess. He is however incredibly cool. A very quiet and calculating figure. He seems meticulous with every movement he makes. And he has the most amazing late 60's moustache . Genuinely awesome. I like Corey. He definitely comes out of his as the most impressive figure. He proves you can wear a mac without looking like a creepy paedophile. Something is never achieved in...