When a stoic, icily professional assassin is witnessed leaving the scene of a nightclub "hit" by a barroom pianist who doesn't let on to the cops, he discovers that he's being set up for something worse than jail. New wave noir from Melville, the tough-guy darling of the "Cahiers du Cinema" crowd. Based on the novel "The Ronin" by Joan McLeod.
Review 1:
4 stars out of 5 -- "With minimal amounts of violence but maximum style....Simply, the coolest film ever."
Source: Rolling Stone
p.144 11/17/2005
Review 2:
4 stars out of 4 -- "[I]t's a nigh perfectly constructed film, and its finale remains one of the most stunning yet enigmatic twists ever committed to celluloid."
Source: Premiere
p.188 12/01/2005
Review 3:
"...An austere poem of crime, a fatalistic exercise in myth-making and transcendent style..."
Source: Los Angeles Times
p.F8 02/27/1997
Review 4:
"...The film is masterful in its control of acting and visual style....LE SAMOURAI is as finished and polished as a film can be..."
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
p.5 06/08/1997
Review 5:
"Melville's 1968 masterpiece....Minimal dialogue, a spare and moody jazz score and images drained of any color warmer than blue steel contribute to an overwhelming sense of repression and control."
Source: New York Times
p.E5 11/08/2005