When "Le marginal" came out in 1983, it was characterized "a typical Jean-Paul Belmondo vehicle". "Trois hommes à abattre" is also a star vehicle, for Alain Delon this time. Considering director Jacques Deray's other work, and the wider crime film genre, it is a disappointment.
Delon plays here the gambler Michel Gerfault. While going to a game, one night, he sees a driver, motionless in his car. Believing that he is the victim of a car accident, he takes him to the hospital, where it is discovered that he was actually shot. When Gerfault learns that two other men were also killed that night (the film's title means "Three men to kill"), he sets out to uncover the head of the conspiracy, without knowing that he's being pursued by some of his henchmen. They think that he knows everything, but in truth, he knows absolutely nothing.
While the character of the hardcore gambler seems tailor-made for Delon, he portrayed him as too distant and serious for him to be engaging. The reason I mentioned "Le marginal" before, is that it has an excellent protagonist, the commissioner Jordan, played with both comedic and serious elements by Belmondo. Delon made a better job in his own film, "Le battant" (1983) as the innocent hero.
In it, he was helped by a well-executed plot. The story of "Trois hommes à abattre", though, is poorly visualized by Deray. Despite featuring some car chases and face-to-face confrontation between Gerfault and the conspirators, it is pretty slow-paced, more structured like a detective story than an action film. The movie being a novel adaptation, the director could have put more emphasis on the story, but unfortunately it serves more as a vehicle for Alain Delon.
In this vehicle, he is not surrounded by memorable characters. His Italian girlfriend (Dalila Di Lazzaro) comes off either as spoilt and empty-headed, or completely unconvincing as his loyal companion. Pierre Dux, who played the leader of the conspiracy, Emmerich, seemed more like a parody of François Mitterrand than a real criminal mastermind, while his assistant, Leprince (Michel Auclair) bordered on the comical with his suggesting of ideas constantly rejected by his boss.
In his review of the movie in the magazine Télérama, movie critic Pierre Murat wrote of the music that it plays "one of the main roles". In that, I have to disagree with him, since the score was totally forgettable. Claude Balling offered a soundtrack of no special quality, with its repetitive use of a motif rendering it simply dull. Again, "Le battant's" score is clearly better, with striking piano pieces perfectly arranged, in contrast to the indifferent music of "Trois hommes à abattre".
All in all, "Trois hommes à abattre" is a disappointing noir thriller by a capable director, that has no memorable qualities, except for its lack thereof. Perhaps, the one who put it better was Emmerich himself. When showing Gerfault some paintings and asked by the latter to move onto another topic, he replied by saying "Art is the most indispensable of futilities". "Trois hommes à abattre" is surely a futility, and a piece of art. Except for the fact that it is a futility of the most dispensable kind.
Delon plays here the gambler Michel Gerfault. While going to a game, one night, he sees a driver, motionless in his car. Believing that he is the victim of a car accident, he takes him to the hospital, where it is discovered that he was actually shot. When Gerfault learns that two other men were also killed that night (the film's title means "Three men to kill"), he sets out to uncover the head of the conspiracy, without knowing that he's being pursued by some of his henchmen. They think that he knows everything, but in truth, he knows absolutely nothing.
While the character of the hardcore gambler seems tailor-made for Delon, he portrayed him as too distant and serious for him to be engaging. The reason I mentioned "Le marginal" before, is that it has an excellent protagonist, the commissioner Jordan, played with both comedic and serious elements by Belmondo. Delon made a better job in his own film, "Le battant" (1983) as the innocent hero.
In it, he was helped by a well-executed plot. The story of "Trois hommes à abattre", though, is poorly visualized by Deray. Despite featuring some car chases and face-to-face confrontation between Gerfault and the conspirators, it is pretty slow-paced, more structured like a detective story than an action film. The movie being a novel adaptation, the director could have put more emphasis on the story, but unfortunately it serves more as a vehicle for Alain Delon.
In this vehicle, he is not surrounded by memorable characters. His Italian girlfriend (Dalila Di Lazzaro) comes off either as spoilt and empty-headed, or completely unconvincing as his loyal companion. Pierre Dux, who played the leader of the conspiracy, Emmerich, seemed more like a parody of François Mitterrand than a real criminal mastermind, while his assistant, Leprince (Michel Auclair) bordered on the comical with his suggesting of ideas constantly rejected by his boss.
In his review of the movie in the magazine Télérama, movie critic Pierre Murat wrote of the music that it plays "one of the main roles". In that, I have to disagree with him, since the score was totally forgettable. Claude Balling offered a soundtrack of no special quality, with its repetitive use of a motif rendering it simply dull. Again, "Le battant's" score is clearly better, with striking piano pieces perfectly arranged, in contrast to the indifferent music of "Trois hommes à abattre".
All in all, "Trois hommes à abattre" is a disappointing noir thriller by a capable director, that has no memorable qualities, except for its lack thereof. Perhaps, the one who put it better was Emmerich himself. When showing Gerfault some paintings and asked by the latter to move onto another topic, he replied by saying "Art is the most indispensable of futilities". "Trois hommes à abattre" is surely a futility, and a piece of art. Except for the fact that it is a futility of the most dispensable kind.