Overview
User Rating:5.9/10 648 votes
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Director:Jacques Deray

Writers:Jacques Deray (writer) &
Jean Herman (writer) ...
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Contact:View company contact information for Le marginal on IMDbPro.
Release Date:26 October 1983 (France) more

Runtime:100 min
Country:France
Language:French
Color:Color (Eastmancolor)
Certification:Norway:16 | West Germany:16
Filming Locations:Paris, France more
Company:Cerito Films more

Produced by
Alain Belmondo .... delegate producer

Original Music by Ennio Morricone

Cinematography by
Xaver Schwarzenberger

Film Editing by
Albert Jurgenson

Also Known As (AKA)
Der Au?enseiter West Germany
Kantje boord Netherlands
Maglup edilmeyen Turkey (Turkish title)
Marginalac Serbia
O Marginal Brazil (cable TV title)
O perithoriakos Greece
Professione: poliziotto Italy
The Outsider (undefined)

Plot-1: In another typical Jean-Paul Belmondo vehicle, the French action hero plays a policeman prone to advancing the cause of justice by any means necessary. On his agenda is a powerful drug cartel working out of Paris and Marseilles, with a drug lord (Henry Silva) who is essentially inaccessible -- but not immortal. Stunts (performed by Belmondo) and chase scenes on land and water enliven the story, but the scenes with Belmondo's love interest are rather marginal themselves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide (here)

Plot-2: Commissaire Philippe Jordan is determined to crush a notorious drugs syndicate run by the elusive magnate Sauveur Meccacci. His methods are far from orthodox, however, and his one-man crusade is not appreciated by his police colleagues... (here)

Still, in spite of the protagonist's superficial nonchalance, he's shown to have a heart: befriending a hooker, saving a convict's teenage daughter from life as a junkie, and paternally overseeing the 'legitimate' activity of a young small-time crook; when the latter opposes Silva's offer of 'protection' and winds up dead, the conflict between policeman and racketeer becomes a personal one. Mind you, the overall handling is anything but subtle – and blatantly commercial (why else would we be treated to the excess of sleaze on display, including an irrelevant excursion at a gay club?)! The film features another Ennio Morricone score which virtually hinges on a single catchy riff, though it's not quite as haunting as his work on THE PROFESSIONAL. The R2 DVD I rented also featured an Audio Commentary by director Deray which was, unfortunately, unsubtitled and enticing theatrical trailers for two other films Belmondo made for director Philippe De Broca, LE MAGNIFIQUE (1973) and L'INCORRIGIBLE (1975).(here)

Plot-4: Belmondo is a tough cop. He goes after a big-time drug dealer (played by Henry Silva, normally a great villain - see "Sharky's Machine"; but here he is clearly dubbed, and because of that he lacks his usual charisma). He goes to the scuzziest places of Paris and Marseilles, asks for some names, beats up some people, gets the names, goes to more scuzzy places, asks for more names, beats up more people, etc. The whole movie is punch after punch after punch. It seems that the people who made it had no other ambition than to create the French equivalent of "Dirty Harry". Belmondo, who was 50 here, does perform some good stunts at the beginning; apart from those, "Le Marginal" is a violent, episodic, trite, shallow and forgettable cop movie.(here)