The movie that helped turn Charles Bronson into a big star in Europe, which in turn led to him becoming a star in Hollywood, just like for Clint Eastwood. The French especially found they loved his craggy face and masculine integrity - he fit right in to their sort of male stars like Jean Gabin and Jean-Paul Belmondo (Jean Reno is the modern day equivalent).
This starts strongly with some booming French action movie music as Bronson and Alain Delon disembark in France after the Algerian War. They were both in the army but didn't really know each other - Delon was a doctor. Delon is met by a beautiful girl (Olga Georges-Picot) who knew a dead friend of his, and she asks him to do a task for her that involves flirting with another girl (Brigitte Fossey)... and returning some old security bonds... it turns out to be part of a plan to rob a bank. Bronson hears about it, follows, and he and Delon wind up locked together in a bank after hours.
During that time the two of them basically fall in love and stand around sweaty without their shirts. They escape and realise the girls are treacherous. Bronson is caught by the cops but won't give up his new mate.
In other words lots of male bonding with a strand of misogyny - like a lot of popular Alain Delon films from this era (The Last Adventure, Borsalino). Delon and Bronson work well together - you buy them as both ex soldiers, which in real life they were. But I struggled with the story - all the schemes seemed really complex and I felt it didn't make sense.
Bronson talks about going off to be a mercenary in the Congo, another Delon film to refer to this conflict (after The Last Adventure).
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