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Le Samouraï (Jean-Pierre Melville, France 1967)

  • The Lord Palmerston 33 Dartmouth Park Hill London, England, NW5 1HU United Kingdom (map)
Minimal and breathtaking, Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai features an icy and smoldering lead performance from one of the most beautiful human beings to ever grace the big screen: Alain Delon.
— Ed Travis, Cinapse

Screened in tribute to Alain Delon (1935 - 2024)

In a career-defining performance, Alain Delon plays Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts. After carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless employer, and not even his armor of fedora and trench coat can protect him... An elegantly stylized masterpiece of cool by maverick director Jean‑Pierre Melville, Le samouraï is a razor-sharp cocktail of 1940s American gangster cinema and 1960s French pop culture —with a liberal dose of Japanese lone-warrior mythology.