Summary
In the aftermath of World War II, a band of crooks profit from their country’s disarray
by robbing banks and factories across France. The crooks’ leader, Robert,
plans ever-daring hold-ups, in the hope of retiring on a fortune. Unfortunately,
the police have other ideas...
Review
After the enormous popularity of Borsalino
and its sequel Borsalino
et Co. in the early 1970s, director Jacques Deray and actor/producer Alain Delon
hoped to repeat their success with Le Gang, a similar kind of period gangster action
film. The film was based on a novel by Roger Borniche, which recounted the real-life
story of a notorious gangster boss, Pierre Loutrel (known as "Pierrot le Fou").
Here, handicapped by a new haircut (a wig masquerading as a perm), Delon plays a somewhat
more sympathetic character than the psychopathic killer in the Borsalino films.
Indeed, the film presents an idealised view of the gangster milieu - the crooks are portrayed
as civilised heroes and the police as inept, trigger-happy fools who urinate in public.
Unfortunately, thanks to a lethal concoction of lack-lustre acting, limp direction and
bland stereotypical characterisation, this rather hackneyed approach only emphasises the
film’s deficiencies. Consequently, despite its slick presentation and well-choreographed
fight scenes, Le Gang is something of a disappointment. All that it really
has to offer is a watered down pastiche of the classic gangster movie, with a lot of running
around and plenty of shoot-outs, lacking the originality, focus and humanity of other
Deray-Delon collaborations.
© James Travers 2003
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