Cinema: Gallic Gangsters

THE GODSON

Directed by JEAN-PIERRE MELVILLE Screenplay by JEAN-PIERRE MELVILLE

The true title of this movie is Le Samurai—or was, anyway, until it was picked up for American distribution in the wake of The Godfather's huge success. The title is not the only thing that has been changed. The film has been perfunctorily dubbed into English, so that all the actors sound like waiters in a New York French restaurant. Scenes end abruptly, continuity and motivation are often tentative at best, for the movie has been somewhat truncated for U.S. release.

Despite all this, The...

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