Thursday, August 13, 2020

Movie review - "The Chasers" aka "Les Drageurs" (1959) ***

 An accomplished directorial debut from Jean-Pierre Mocky, helped by pleasant photography, location work in Paris, a simple story and a strong cast.

Jacques Charrier (who was Mr Brigitte Bardot for a while) and Charles Aznavour are two young lads on the make one night. Charrier has a lot of luck - I get he's handsome but he's not very charming and at times I felt the film pushed the believably factor (had it been Delon or Belmondo, maybe). Aznavour's strike rate felt more realistic.

The women they meet include a wife, a crippled girl, a teenager, a man eater, a tragic figure. Anouk Aimee is effective as the crippled girl; Estella Blain is a sad sack, albeit hot; Dany Robin is the wife; Dany Carrel cracks jokes; Belinda Lee is fun as a man eater (the type who tongue kisses strangers at a masked ball party then slaps them); Nicole Berger, who later died in a car crash, is a nice girl.

I felt it was a strong movie - not as profound as it thinks it is and over reliant on Charrier's charm but it gives its cast roles to act and was compelling.

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