Le Professionnel

Rating:
Summary: BELMONDO GETS REVENGE
Review: "LE PROFESSIONNEL" from 1981 is at heart a comic book plotted B movie that's still a fun ride. Here Belmondo is French spy Joss Baumont sent to assassinate an ruthlessly cruel African dictator. But when the powers that be change, he's double-crossed by his own people and sent to hard labor at a bad, bad prison camp. But not to worry, 'cause no prison can hold Belmondo and nothing will stop him from his assassination assignment, even if he has to pick a new target. Cool chicks, hard guys, fast cars and a score by Ennio Morricone. What's not to like?

Rating:
Summary: BELMONDO GETS REVENGE
Review: "LE PROFESSIONNEL" from 1981 is at heart a comic book plotted B movie that's still a fun ride. Here Belmondo is French spy Joss Baumont sent to assassinate an ruthlessly cruel African dictator. But when the powers that be change, he's double-crossed by his own people and sent to hard labor at a bad, bad prison camp. But not to worry, 'cause no prison can hold Belmondo and nothing will stop him from his assassination assignment, even if he has to pick a new target. Cool chicks, hard guys, fast cars and a score by Ennio Morricone. What's not to like?

Rating:
Summary: Great actor, Good movie, Bad transfer
Review: Feeling a little nostalgic for the movies I grew up with back in the USSR, I bought Le Professionel DVD from Amazon. I was looking so much forward to see this action movie and Belmondo whose movies I used to watch dozens of times in my childhood. What a frustration!!! Very bad PAL->NTSC conversion (many visible artifacts), extremely bad video transfer/encoding on DVD disc (blurry image), all audio tracks are mono, moreover they are poorly recorded which does not do justice to the famous Morricone theme. As much as I love the actor and the movie I do not recommend buying it. Shame on Image Entertainment for such a horrid DVD release.

Rating:
Summary: Le Professionel
Review: I contribute it to innocence of youth, when I gave the movie a full thumbs up 20 years ago. After hundreds of good (and bad) movies later, I was shocked to see how hollow the plot and how bad the performance of the actors really was. In order not to take away suspension (if ever) beforehand, here's the plot in brief:
Belmondo, beau, hero and government agent, is ordered to assassinate a good-for-nothing African president. However, politics change, the plan is cancelled and our hero ends up in an African hard labor prison camp. Now follows a bit of chain-gang melodrama a la Papillon and a hasty but successful escape, which leaves you again wondering who the fools are: the pursuing incompetent military or yourself, continuing watching the movie. There follows a big gap and our hero is back in France, now taking revenge on his former peers, including a car chase in a totally deserted ??? city of Paris. Apparently the movie's director felt obliged to proof to the audience, that the French movie industry is on par with Hollywood.
What adds to make the movie even worse are the sounds in mono, which spoils the fantastic soundtrack by ENNIO MORRICONE, and the movie's colors. Males wear heavy lipstick like drag queens and Belmondo's tan looks too good to be real.
I gave it one star for having the pleasure watching the hero's wife in her complete Eva's costume and a call girl in her G-strings.(Never get disappointed when it comes to a French movie). The other two stars are for the great soundtrack, which enables you enjoying the DVD without watching it. Overall verdict: The heavy price tag on it, does not justify a B-type movie.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: I saw this movie 20 years ago and I cannot imagine seeing a better french movie. This an absolute must for every fan of the french cinema. Belmondo in his best. Noone in France can ever top his performance. Awesome

Rating:
Summary: LE PROFESSIONNEL
Review: THE BEST BELMONDO&S MOVIE

Rating:
Summary: fatal indifference
Review: The plot revolves around the fact that French agent, Joss Baumont, is sent by his government to assassinate a ruthless and oppressive African dictator. Unfortunately, before his mission can be completed, the French decide that the dictator might be a useful ally; consequently, Baumont is "sacrificed" by his own agency and betrayed to the dictator's police. Baumont is imprisoned in a brutal African labor camp for two years, before he manages to escape. What follows next is a sort of vendetta against the African dictator and his former associates in the French secret service. Upon his escape, Baumont acts rather like a character without a soul, in that he seems completely indifferent to his ultimate fate. He proceeds to France with the intention of killing the African dictator (who conveniently has a scheduled state visit in Paris);however, he cannot resist the temptation to notify his former French colleagues of his plans. Naturally, what ensues is a game of cat and mouse, in which Baumont generally outwits his former comrades (who are now responsible for protecting the dictator during his state visit). Baumont does receive some assistance with his plans from his wife and from a few assorted characters;
however, he is largely on his own as he attempts to penetrate the security around the dictator. His most persistent antagonist is an unscrupulous police inspector named
Rosen. Rosen is not the least bit reluctant to sanction almost any method which yields the desired result-- the capture or killing of Baumont. This story has elements of humor, notably the scenes involving a prositute and her client and what amounts to an almost Wild West type of gunfight between Baumont and Rosen. Ultimately, a certain measure of justice prevails in that some of the most villainous characters suffer a well deserved demise. However, the ending of the story (while predictable) is somewhat unsatisfying--- as the viewer is left only with an empty feeling regarding the pointlessness and futility of Baumont's fatal choices. Still, this film is worth viewing and owning for any true Belmondo fan. On the whole, it was more entertaining than some French films which have been more critically acclaimed.