One of the rare instances when the music composer is the hero. This is Morricone's film. His famous tune "chi mai" is played throughout in many scenes and it lifts many ordinary parts to another level.
On the surface, the film is like a tongue in cheek revenge drama. BELMONDO plays a French Rambo who is sent to an African nation to assassinate its leader. But he is hung out to dry by the french intelligence services and is jailed following a public trial. After a dramatic escape from an African slave camp, BELMONDO returns to France to take revenge on the people who betrayed him.
If you look closely, the film is an odd mix of many genres. It is not just an action film. sure, there is a spaghetti western style shoot out, a pulsating car chase and some seriously violent action. The women are all objects of sex who want to sleep with BELMONDO or get coffee for the superiors. But it is also a satire about the ridiculousness and incompetence of French intelligence agencies and how the leaders of first world countries and third world countries are in bed with each other. At one point, a French intelligence agent remarks irritably about a countryside mansion (where an African leader and his prostitute are residing) - "why are we deploying such a large police force to protect this whorehouse?"
The gritty and violent beginning in Africa, seemed at odds with the BELMONDO's adventures in France.
It is not a bad film. I'm sure there is a context which i don't really get because i'm no expert on French politics and foreign policy.
BELMONDO is awesome. He must have been pretty old when he made this, but he was really pumped up. The women are all nice eye candy. There is even a lesbian torturer who tries to move in on BELMONDO's wife only to get a karate chop on her neck.
But like i said at the beginning, the real hero is Morricone.
On the surface, the film is like a tongue in cheek revenge drama. BELMONDO plays a French Rambo who is sent to an African nation to assassinate its leader. But he is hung out to dry by the french intelligence services and is jailed following a public trial. After a dramatic escape from an African slave camp, BELMONDO returns to France to take revenge on the people who betrayed him.
If you look closely, the film is an odd mix of many genres. It is not just an action film. sure, there is a spaghetti western style shoot out, a pulsating car chase and some seriously violent action. The women are all objects of sex who want to sleep with BELMONDO or get coffee for the superiors. But it is also a satire about the ridiculousness and incompetence of French intelligence agencies and how the leaders of first world countries and third world countries are in bed with each other. At one point, a French intelligence agent remarks irritably about a countryside mansion (where an African leader and his prostitute are residing) - "why are we deploying such a large police force to protect this whorehouse?"
The gritty and violent beginning in Africa, seemed at odds with the BELMONDO's adventures in France.
It is not a bad film. I'm sure there is a context which i don't really get because i'm no expert on French politics and foreign policy.
BELMONDO is awesome. He must have been pretty old when he made this, but he was really pumped up. The women are all nice eye candy. There is even a lesbian torturer who tries to move in on BELMONDO's wife only to get a karate chop on her neck.
But like i said at the beginning, the real hero is Morricone.