Films francais
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Urgence
1985 Crime / Thriller
 
Credits
  • Director: Gilles Béhat
  • Script: Gérard Carré, Didier Cohen, Jean Herman, Gilles Béhat
  • Photo: Pierre Lhomme
  • Music: Jean-Hector Drand, Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Cast: Richard Berry (Jean-Pierre Mougin), Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu (Lucas Schroeder), Jean-François Balmer (Paul Murneau), Fanny Bastien (Lysa Forstier), Nathalie Courval (Béatrice), Catherine Allégret (La femme-taxi), Jean-Jacques Moreau (Martel), Artus de Penguern (Bernier), Arthur Simms (Le chanteur), Christian Rauth (Max), Georges Géret (Patrick Villard), Patrick Abrial (Marcus)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 101 min
 
 
 
Summary
One night, Lyza sees her brother, the reporter Max Forestier, killed and narrowly escapes death herself at the hands of an unknown assailant.  She enlists the support of a sports journalist, Jean-Pierre Mougin, who works for the same agency as her brother.  Mougin quickly drops his scepticism when he himself becomes the target of a brutal assassin and uncovers a plot by neo-Nazi thugs to instigate a truly horrific racist terrorist attack.  The question is: will he live long enough to tell the tale…?

Review
Sexy French film star Richard Berry is on top form in this full-bodied political thriller, the kind of a film that was enormously popular in France in the late ’70s and early ’80s.  Although the plot is a tad absurd and strewn with well-worn clichés, the film boasts some pretty respectable production values – solid performances from its lead actors (Berry is particularly good here), memorable action stunts, and some moody night-time photography that evokes the tension and menace of classic film noir.  Whilst it does little to stimulate the intellect, Urgence is a tense, compelling, grittier than average policier, which is surprisingly entertaining and presages the dark post-noir thrillers of the 1990s.

© James Travers 2006