Le Soleil des voyous (1967)
Directed by Jean Delannoy

Film Review

This plodding French thriller brings together two big names in 1960s cinema - the French living legend Jean Gabin and popular American actor Robert Stack. Gabin had reinvented himself in the 1950s as the tough, taciturn anti-hero and was enjoying success late in his career in thrillers such as this.  Stack was renowned for playing tough action heroes in similar American films, and was also well-known in France.  Despite their very different personas, the two men work together surprisingly well in this film, which should appeal to devotees of the American B movie as well as die-hard fans of the French film policier.

The film was directed by Jean Delannoy who was one of the leading French film directors of the 1940s and 1950s, credited with directing some of the jewels of French cinema, including L'Eternel retour (1943), La Symphonie pastorale (1946) and Les Jeux sonts faits (1947). In later years, his creativity waned and he became a sitting target for the critics of the Cahiers du cinéma (many of whom went on to become directors in the French New Wave).

It is true that Delannoy's later films were less striking than his earlier works.  Although the director's technical competence could not be challenged, these films lacked originality and sometimes appeared to be just a bland rehash of contemporary films from other directors.  Le Soleil des voyous is a fair example of this - a pretty anaemic film adaptation of a crime novel, filled with stock clichés and with little in the way of artistic flair or personal involvement with the subject.  (Compare this with Georges Lautner's gutsy Le Pacha made the following year - again, a familiar crime-thriller set up, but one which is much more appealing, thanks to its more original, more adventurous cinematic style).  With this in mind, it is to tempting to dismiss Le Soleil des voyous as a second rate, artistically bereft schedule filler, offering a quick - and unsatisfying fix - for French thriller junkies.  Yet that probably is too harsh.  Thanks to the solid contribution from its lead actors, plus an effective score from Francis Lai, the film is not without its charms.  Some may even consider it to be a classic of its genre.

Film Synopsis

After a life of crime, Denis Farrand has retired to a provincial town where he runs a chic bar, which just happens to be opposite a bank. When a former friend, Jim Beckley, re-enters his life unexpectedly, Denis is persuaded to pull off one more robbery.  Thanks to Denis' meticulous preparations, the two men manage to steal 500 million francs from the bank vault.  Then, things start to go wrong.  Drug dealers who have been pursuing Jim kidnap Denis' wife and hold her ransom; she will be released only if the stolen money is handed over to them.  But then Denis makes a terrible discovery.  Someone has already run off with the money…