Le battant (1983) User Reviews

Who's got the ice?

[bob998 · 7/10 · 16 February 2010]

Alain Delon turns in a stylish caper film here, one that could have come from René Clément's script drawer. I liked the intimate tone of the story, the way François Périer almost adopts Delon as his son, even giving him his mistress, Anne Parillaud. There is not much in the way of violence, which suits me fine.

The performances are generally good. Périer is oily and treacherous as Ruggeri, the club owner, Pierre Mondy has an easy time with the detective role, and Anne Parillaud is superb as the sexy assistant-turned-mistress. At two hours, though, the film is a bit long.

A self-serving effort with bows to a few directors

[adrian-43767 · 5/10 · 27 June 2017]

Alain Delon has always been one of my idols. It might be because my Mother found him the most handsome of all actors and in my teens I tried to copy a few of his mannerisms, so I have tried to track down and watch all his movies and Le Battant was one of the few that I had not watched yet.

Alas, it is a self-serving movie in which Delon's name appears twice in the initial credits, before being credited as director. He kills with no song (the movie's soundtrack is worse than torture) and certainly not softly, and he has enemies everywhere, even among the women he seduces so easily but, amazingly for such a thorough killing machine, he is easily duped by his most evil and yet trusted nemesis, and he makes basic mistakes like walking openly into possible lines of fire, standing by windows with open curtains, and placing the gun too close to the enemies he subdues before dispatching them. He is also fabulously good at moving diamonds to Rio de Janeiro, while everyone else believes they are in France.

In terms of acting, my idol falls very short of his quality performances in ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS, THE LEOPARD, THE SAMURAI, LES FELINS and even PLEIN SOLEIL. And his direction is aimless, throwing in all kinds of bows to directors like René Clément, Jean-Pierre Melville, Jacques Deray, and others. He even borrows the cage of the bird in THE SAMURAI and a few musical notes to go with it, in a snippet of a scene that is totally meaningless to anyone who did not watch that J-M Melville masterpiece.

The supporting cast is largely anonymous in light of Delon's almost continuous presence on the screen. Perier is one fleeting exception.

The other is the exceedingly beautiful and sexy Anne Parillaud, the movie's saving grace. She, alone, is worth the price of admission, and I hope Delon did the honors because a cake like that deserves to be savored and eaten many times.

Final note: You learn nothing morally valuable from this film.

Dedicated to René Clement...

[dbdumonteil · 16 July 2004]

...who directed Delon in one of his most memorable parts "Plein soleil" (1959)-the first version of "the talented MrRipley";also worthwhile was "les felins" (1964).

"Le battant " has nothing to do with René Clement though.It would rather recall Henri Verneuil.The story is run of the mill diamonds chase ,diamonds which Delon hid somewhere (we will know where in the last pictures)just before he was arrested .When he's released ,a lot of people are hot on his heels ,cops and robbers as well.Mildly entertaining,because it does not lack tempo,the movie accumulates the dead bodies and a certain misogyny.

Delon's sophomore effort as a director.His movie seems to belong to the precedent decade.He's only offering us diamonds and rust here,and we've already paid.

Good, but...

[konya-s · 8/10 · 5 August 2008]

...could have been much better if the director (Alain Delon) can handle the atmosphere of the film. I mean...There is no atmosphere in the movie and that's the single problem with Le Battant. Otherwise it's a pretty good, hard boiled revenge-flick, and in some scenes reminded me Mel Gibson's little thriller called Payback. Alain Delon is cool, he's a silent murderer in this movie, he didn't give a damn about anybody, he slaps the poor girl when the situation needs it, so he's just a cold blooded killer who's only interested in his freedom and the money he deserved. The story has some twist (but nothing special), some violence, but as I said before it could have been much better.

Flat, boring, uninspired.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 2/10 · 10 April 2022]

Alain Delon was a real nasty director, the total opposite of what he is and was as an actor. The André Caroff"s novel - his worst one !! - it is inspired from is not better, so the movie is at least faithful to the book. Forget LE SAMOURAI when watching this crap, it will be less painful for you. The directing is destined to the basic bulk of audiences in love with Delon, not to real film noir nor great crime films connaisseurs as I am. Next week, I will comment LE CHOC, made one year earlier, also with Delon as the lead, we'll see if it is better than this one. And two hours is far far too long for such a torture. Only a couple of good scenes, when Delon kills in cold blood some unarmed hoodlums. Very rare in such a movie, where the lead character, though being a hoodlum himself, is supposed to behave with honor and bravery....

Not good, but watchable.

[bombersflyup · 3/10 · 3 October 2019]

Le battant is like a French Bond film, with a french Roger Moore, though dull with no cool villain.

A lot of characters and a lot going on, though we don't see it all and not too exciting. Anne Parillaud's exceptionally beautiful, making it not a complete waste. The loud dramatic theme music that keeps playing totally unwarranted. You'd think the guy with the shovel would take a chance, he's obviously not digging for diamonds. The exchange with Sylviane Chabry's just weird.

How cliché can you get?

[lcourteau · 3/10 · 15 February 2009]

Okay, I won't tell you the story, just warn you about the avalanche of clichés in this film.

Well directed, Alain Delon was a good actor; as a director and producer, I just hope he did not take his stuff seriously. From the girl who can't keep her dress on for five minutes to the Colombo-style commissary, from the sped-up car chases to the horribly banal one and only musical theme, the only way to enjoy this flick is to laugh it through.

Speaking of music, one thing for sure: Delon has no taste whatsoever in that area. I wonder what Michel Colombier's job was here (he is credited for "music coordination" or something). This is not the first instance where Delon-as-director wears out the same theme over and over throughout a film. In "Pour la peau d'un flic", a certain Bensonhurst Blues is randomly cued in and out for two hours. I jumped on my seat when I saw this tune credited at the beginning of the movie. About an hour and a half through it, two bad guys turn on their car radio; you can hear the said blues for half a second (enough to recognize it if you've heard it for two hours the week before and have anxiously been waiting for it for 90 minutes) and one of the goons exclaims: "Ah non! merde!" before switching the station to a Mozart concerto. That's it for Bensonhurst this time. This is, sad to say, the best moment in the film.

This is too much even for Delon

[newjersian · 3/10 · 11 July 2019]

Alain Delon really thinks that his smile and a couple of beautiful girls can make working any idiotic plot, even the ridiculous one in this movie. It gives bad name to the detective genre. If you didn't watch this French drivel, you missed nothing. I give it 3 stars only for the beautiful girls.