Le Rapace (1968) - film review

In 1938, a hired killer named Le Rital arrives in a South American country to assassinate an unpopular president.  He is billeted with Miguel Juarez, grandson of the previous president, an idealist who is to be credited with the assassination.  Opposite them is a splendid house in which the president’s mistress lives in luxury, flaunting her wealth to the oppressed poor who surround her.  After a long wait, during which Le Rital and Miguel develop an uneasy friendship, the president arrives and his execution proceeds as planned.  However, as they make their escape, Le Rital and Miguel soon discover that they have been duped…

Le Rapace is the second film from screenwriter-turned-director José Giovanni and rates easily as one of his best films.  The film was shot on location in Mexico, and consequently is both visual stunning in some sequences and grimly realistic in others.  Giovanni’s inexperience manifests itself in a few places – some of the performances are painfully wooden, some attempts to be clever with the camera fail spectacularly, and the hideous score gives the film the feel of a cheap spaghetti western.  Most off-putting are the film’s uneven tempo and the jarring mismatch between the studio and location sequences in the first part of the film.   Where the film is strongest is in its portrayal of the relationship between a cynical killer – played to perfection by the magnificent Lino Ventura – and a naïve idealistic revolutionary.  This provides a thoughtful reflection on the morality and politics of assassination, playing to Giovanni’s strengths as a writer.  After a mediocre first half, the film suddenly seems to come to life, and the conclusion is as tense and gripping as in any action thriller, with some masterfully directed shoot out sequences that combine the best of the classic American western with traditional French film noir.

© James Travers 2007

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Together with Lino Ventura, I was the star of this film. In Europe, 90 per cent of the critics gave it four stars! Not so in the U.S. where the critic you show seems to have seen only the worse instead of the best of the film.
Xavier Marc (Mexico City) 

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