Le Saut de l'ange (1971)
Directed by Yves Boisset

Film Synopsis

With an electoral campaign in full swing in Marseille, two rival gangs soon come to blows.  The property developer Forestier is prepared to resort to any means, foul or fair, to win the election, but he is fiercely opposed by the Corsicans, who are led by the powerful Orsini family.  Forestier deals ruthlessly with the opposition, by having the Orsini brothers, Marc and Lucien, executed.  When he hears of this, the brothers' father, Louis, returns from Thailand to exact a decisive revenge against his enemy.

The redoubtable Louis becomes Forestier's next target, but his hired assassin, Di Fusco, slips up and ends up murdering his wife and daughter by mistake.  It is a fatal error, because now Louis Orsini has nothing to live for and every reason to wipe out Forestier and all of his trigger-happy minions.  What began as a private contest between opposing gangs soon escalates into a full-scale gang war, with the whole of Marseille about to go up in flames....