The Sicilan Clan (1969)

The Egyptian theater in Los Angeles is having a 2 day screening series titled “Jean Gabin – The coolest actor in the world”. I just got back from the first evening which featured Henri Verneuil’s classic crime thriller, The Sicilan Clan, and one of Gabin’s only US films, Moontide.

I was really debating whether or not to go the the screening because the print that was shown was the English dubbed version (few things in the world that are as sad as watching Lino Ventura dubbed), but I decided that this is a unique opportunity to see this movie screened on film and I’m glad I went. The print screened was a stunning brand new 35mm print on loan from 20th Century Fox, and the dub was better than one might expect it to be. I actually think that some of the actors (at least Delon) contributed their own voices to the English version.

Sicilan Clan is one of my favorite French crime films of the era. It stars three of the coolest actors to ever grace the silver screen, Alain Delon, Jean Gabin and Lino Ventura, It’s directed by one of France’s most accomplished genre directors, Henri Verneuil, and it sports one of Enio Morricone most memorable scores. The score kicks in during the first few seconds of the film and perfectly sets the tone of what’s to come.

The opening sequence, in which Delon’s character, Roger Sartet, escapes from police custody, is pure Verneuil magic. It’s directed with minimal dialog and is simple, but ingenious and tight. What follows is equally enternaing as Sartet joins forces with the Manalese clan – A family of Sicilian expatriates living in France, to rob all the exhibits from a famous jewelry show. Lino plays the veteran police inspector who vows to catch Sartet.

If I have any complaints towards the movie they probably have to do with the final reel, a daring jewel heist that takes place in on a passenger airplane. It’s a really ambitious set piece that was just a tad ahead of it’s time and some of the rear projection shots are quite ridiculous and ruin a bit of the great ambiance that was set up in previous scenes.

It’s impossible to have any discussion about Sicilan Clan without comparing it to another Verneuil – Delon – Gabin collaboration, Melodie En Sous-Sol (Any number can win), both are seminal heist films that share many themes and some plot devices. I always felt that both are great movies, but Melodie is the slightly superior of the two, mostly because it is able to retain the tone and the suspense all through out the film (and end on a pitch perfect note).

Sicilan clan opens with a quote from Chekov: “When I’m talking about horse thieves I don’t say that it’s bad to steal horses. I leave the decision to the Jury”. I always felt that his quote most accurately represnets the non Judgmental attitude of many of the French films of the era. Many of these films presented to the viewer characters that were less than perfect, but always humane, and left the final judgment up to the viewer. To me that is a huge part of the appeal of those films.

The second film that was screened, Moontide, was also a perfect newly struck print on loan from Fox. The film is one of Gabin’s only forays into Hollywood filmmaking. It’s not a terrible movie, but also not a very successful one. Gabin definitely seemed out of place in the somewhat strange US production. I got the feeling that he memorized some of his English lines phonetically. If anything the film serves us as a reminder of how lucky we all are that Gabin continued to make so many great films in France after World War 2 has ended.

Delon – Gabin – Ventura. The Trifecta of cool french movie stars

Enio Morricone’s amazing score

~ by bettertomorrow on September 7, 2008.

Posted in French

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