Le Samouraï (1967)

Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. Starring Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, Caty Rosier, Jacques Leroy, Jean-Pierre Posier, Robert Favart, Michel Boisrond.

Trend-setting, highly-influential neo-noir with Delon as a taciturn hitman, living in physical and existential solitude, with both law enforcement and the underworld closing in on him after a job didn’t play out as smoothly as planned. Stylish but artful, writer/director Melville presents a thriller of austere minimalism, where dialogue rarely occurs outside of a police station, the film’s color is so clouded by atmosphere that one would be forgiven to think back on it and insist it was shot in black & white, and the protagonist is defined more by his physical presence—the implacable stare, the rigid posture, the high-collared trenchcoat and grey fedora—than anything he says, does or feels (if he feels at all). Its spartan aesthetic and “post-modern cool” can be felt in dozens of films since, amorality defined by personal ethics; John Woo named it his favorite film, and his The Killer serves as something of an homage. Even criminals have principles, and perhaps even those who can kill without flinching have a heart after all.

89/100