Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. Tonight: French gangsters.
In 1969, on the set of La Piscine, Alain Delon proposed to the director Jacques Deray to adapt the novel by Eugène Saccomano, Bandits in Marseilles. He is indeed seduced by the story of two young thugs who have become bosses of the Marseille underworld.
The director accepts the project, renamed Borsalino, and gets down to it the following year. For the first time in his career, Alain Delon shares the bill with Jean-Paul Belmondo, whom he had briefly rubbed shoulders with during a scene in Is Paris Burning?.
In a neat reconstruction of Marseille in the 1930s, the two stars at the height of their glory impress in their respective roles – and make the headlines of the press, which embroiders around their rivalry. In addition to this summit meeting, Borsalino is a thriller of remarkable efficiency, punctuated by the irresistible music of Claude Bolling.
Despite mixed critical reception, Borsalino was a major success with the public, totaling 4.7 million admissions. Four years later, its sequel, Borsalino & Co. (with Delon but without Belmondo), landed on screens, but experienced less reception at the box office.
It will then be necessary to wait 28 years for the two actors to give each other the reply again, under the direction of Patrice Leconte, in 1 chance out of 2.
Borsalino by Jacques Deray with Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, André Bollet…
Tonight on TF1 Séries Films at 9 p.m.