(1973/FRANCE/ITALY)
AKA-DEUX HOMMES DANS LA VILLE)
REVIEWED BY-STEVE GENIER DIRECTED BY-JOSE GIOVANNI CAST-ALAIN DELON, JEAN GABIN, MIMSY FARMER, MICHEL BOUQUET and GERARD DEPARDIEU. SOURCE-KINO VIDEO DVD (NTSC REGION 1 / 2005)
After an early parole, ex-safe cracker Gino Stribliggi (Alain Delon) is faced with devastation when his when is killed in a brutal car accident. Germain Cazeneuve (Jean Gabin) who over seen Gino’s rehabilitation during his time in prison convinces him to start of fresh in south France. There Gino’s gets a job as a printer and eventually meets a new girl, Lucie (Mimsy Framer). As his life begins to take a step in the right direction, it’s pulled right back in as a hard boiled cop is determined to prove that Gino is in fact planning another bank heist. Gino trying to prove his innocence only in vain as his past speaks loud volumes and only hinders his attempts. Stalking his every move, impeding on his every maneuver, Gino is forced to a wits end and kills the cop out of a fit of anger. Now, both Cazeneuve and Gino’s lawyer race to prove his innocence.
Director Jose Giovanni brings us this hard-boiled political crime drama brewing with complete style and drive. His ability to direct two very legendary actors such as Delon and Gabin and making it all seem very realistic is downright to a tee. The relationship between the two actors, though being in their third and final appearance together before Gabin’s death in 1976. There is an evident bond between the two actors, one that reflects, where sorry to sound so cliche, but seemingly passing the torch from one generational actor to another. Giovanni exploits this to it’s max throughout the whole story, in fact you can pretty much base TWO MEN IN TOWN on this concept. Gabin’s character Cazeneuve, even though Gino has been released from prison, becomes a father figure of sorts in overseeing that Gino continues to head in the right direction. That his positive progress isn’t hindered by his criminal past. Guiding him into decisions that would become fruitful for Gino, even though Gino is side tracked slightly by the violent death of his wife.
That of course is evened out once he meets Lucie (Mimsy Farmer), and begins to breath in that fresh outlook. Of course all this good isn’t complete without it’s nemesis, as the bad seeps in the way of a vengeful cop looking to equal the score, even if it’s at the expense of Gino’s positive direction. I was especially drawn to Delon’s intensity as Gino, this is no better displayed near the end when he is killing the inspector in his apartment. Driving to the edges, trapped in a corner, Delon’s character does what caged animal would do, kill. This is a prime example of Delon’s amazing range as an actor, one that in my opinion equals his performance in Duccio Tessari’s TONY ARZENTA : BIG GUNS. Which I might add in my opinion for those who don’t know me, covet as one of his best performances.
The rest of the cast involved with TWO MEN is pretty solid, outside the two heavy hitters of Delon and Gabin, you have the very lovely American born actress Mimsy Farmer. She fits in just nicely as Gino’s love interest of Lucie. Filling in the void of losing his wife in a tragic car accident. Farmer puts on her usual blonde innocence into action, giving a pretty respectful on screen presence with Delon. The two really work quite well together.
Politically TWO MEN IN TWO is charged with complete electricity, displaying the decrepit conditions of the prison system during the 70's in Paris, hell France for that matter. The staged riot in the prison is shot quite raw, intense and very realistic to the point of near documentary like in nature. Of course that doesn’t just go for the conditions of the prisoner’s jail cells either, corruption is also slightly touched upon as well. Giovanni even goes as far as to show Gino’s trail as a mockery to the French system. One other area of the film that is absolutely thick with atmosphere is in the last dying minutes before Gino's execution, you can feel the despair and fear he feels. Completely dreadful feeling that is so strong that emotion run high. The film itself is very stylish in a conservative way. Though not very flashy, TWO MEN IN TWO displays some slick transactions, great cinematography as well as a simple but very effective score.
The Kino Films release is pretty much bare bones at best. The feature is certainly this DVD’s main attraction and there isn’t anything wrong with that. Presented in a very clean anamorphic wide-screen aspect 1.66:1 with French mono and optional English subtitles. The special features available on this disc range from the films’ trailer, stills gallery and an Alain Delon filmography. There are also trailer for other Kino releases in the Delon collection. Over all, you probably won’t get a better release of this here in the NTSC region 1 market for quite sometime if ever. So, this would be your best bet if you are within multi-region means.
STORY/FILM-4/5 BITCH SLAPS PICTURE-3.5/5 BITCH SLAPS AUDIO-3/5 BITCH SLAPS EXTRAS-2.5/5 BITCH SLAPS OVERALL DVD-3/5 BITCH SLAPS
