Precisely how original Le Samoura\u00ef<\/em>\u2019s screenplay is has long been a subject of debate. Melville admitted taking inspiration from Graham Greene\u2019s This Gun for Hire<\/em>, but some sources (including the IMDb) credit a novel by Joan McLeod called The Ronin<\/em>, which appears to be as apocryphal as the epigram from \u201cBushido\u201d that Melville opens with. \u201cThere is no greater solitude than that of the samurai,\u201d it reads, \u201cunless it is that of the tiger in the jungle\u2026 perhaps\u2026\u201d This appears over a static shot of a man in a room smoking a cigarette, but it\u2019s not just any man, nor is it any room, although it\u2019s nondescript enough, it could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is Melville\u2019s introduction to contract killer Jef Costello, whose living space \u2013 with its gray walls and minimal furnishings \u2013 reflects the impression (or lack of one) he seeks to leave on anyone who sees him. His uniform is a trench coat, fedora, and white gloves, and in spite of his striking good looks (he is, after all, played by Delon in his prime), that\u2019s all Jef expects any witness to remember when describing him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His workday begins at 6 p.m., when he steals a car right out from under a cop\u2019s nose and drives to a garage where its license plates are changed and he picks up a gun (a transaction made without either party uttering a word). He then proceeds to the apartment of his lover, Jane (played by Delon\u2019s then-wife Nathalie), to begin establishing his alibi. \u201cI like it when you come here,\u201d she says in the film\u2019s first dialogue scene, \u201cbecause you need me.\u201d Jane clearly needs him as well, though, the way she answers every knock at her door with an expectant \u201cJef?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jef\u2019s next stop is an all-night poker game, which will provide the other part of his cover, before heading to the club owned by his quarry. He leaves the car\u2019s engine running while he goes inside and coolly carries out the hit. Several employees clock him as he exits, though, including an unnamed pianist, whose unwillingness to identify him in a lineup is as much a mystery to Jef as it is to the police. Chief among them is an unnamed superintendent who knows Jef is their man in spite of his spotless record, but is unable to hold him because of his airtight alibi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lack of names for all but a handful of the characters lays bare how they\u2019re written not as individuals, but rather types filling a function in the plot. Process is Melville\u2019s primary interest here. How does a criminal manufacture an alibi? How does one steal a car or break into an apartment? How do the police interrogate dozens of suspects in one night? And most importantly, how do they catch a killer while the trail leading to him is still warm?<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a time, it appears Jef has gotten away with murder. In spite of his knack for losing the cops who try tailing him, though, that he got picked up rattles his employers, and instead of paying him off, they try to eliminate him. Melville puts the viewer in the same boat as Jef by cutting to a moving shot at the exact moment his contact shoots him, a stylistic break that signals the destabilization of his meticulously ordered life. When they come back to him with an apology and the front money for another hit, the changes in how he goes about it make it clear how fatalistic his outlook has become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On its release in France, Le Samoura\u00ef<\/em> was Melville\u2019s greatest success, even if the critics weren\u2019t completely on board. He also made headway into the US market when it went out as The Godson<\/em> in 1972 to ride the coattails of The Godfather<\/em>. The film has since proved influential in its own right, however, inspiring filmmakers ranging from John Woo to Jim Jarmusch, whose 1999 homage Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai<\/em> also received the Criterion treatment. One major difference between them: while Forest Whitaker\u2019s Ghost Dog often reads from Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai<\/em>, his counterpart has no need to. From the way Delon expertly underplays him, Jef Costello has completely internalized the mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 4K restoration of \u201cLe Samoura\u00ef\u201d is now streaming on the <\/em>Criterion Channel<\/em><\/a> in its full <\/em>Criterion edition<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Le-Samourai-still-1024x549.jpg\")
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