Happy Birthday, Jean-Pierre Melville! Born today in 1917 as Jean-Pierre Grumbach, this French film director's early features strongly influenced the directors of the New Wave, the innovative French film movement of the late 1950s.
After the fall of France in 1940 during World War II, Grumbach entered the French Resistance to oppose the German Nazis who occupied the country.
However, being of Alsatian Jewish descent, Grumbach had to flee Nazi-occupied France and, having joined the French Resistance, took the pseudonym Melville, to honor the American novelist dear to him.
While with them during, he adopted the nom de guerre "Melville" as a tribute to his favorite American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period Herman Melville.
He then kept it as his stage name once the war was over. Melville fought in Operation Dragoon, the code name for the Allied invasion of Southern France on August 15, 1944.
He later became an independent filmmaker and owned his own studio, rue Jenner, in Paris 13ème (the 13th arrondissement of Paris).
In the late-1950s, Melville conceived, co-wrote, co-produced and directed the first film of which he is best known.
This was the 1956 French black and white gangster drama/crime film 'Bob le flambeur' ('Bob the Gambler' or 'Bob the High Roller') Melvilles served as the Récitant (Narrator), but went uncredited.
Set in Paris, Bob Montagne (Roger Duchesne) is practically synonymous with gambling -- and winning. He is kind, classy and well-liked by virtually everyone in town, including police inspector Commissaire Ledru (Guy Decomble).
However, when Bob's luck turns sour, he begins to lose friends and makes the most desperate gamble of his life: to rob the Deauville casino during Grand Prix weekend, when the vaults are full. Unfortunately, Bob soon learns that the game is rigged and the cops are on to him.
'Bob the Gambler' is often considered a film noir and precursor to the French New Wave because of its use of handheld camera and a single jump cut.
Melville's independence and "reporting" style of filmmaking (he was one of the first French directors to use real locations regularly) were a major influence on Jean-Luc Godard.
In Godard's 1960 French black and white crime/drama film 'À bout de souffle' ('Breathless'), Melville has a cameo, credited as Parvulesco the Writer. He is one of the interviewees of Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg).
When Godard was having difficulty editing the film, Melville suggested that he just cut directly to the best parts of a shot. Godard was inspired and the film's innovative use of jump cuts have become part of its fame.
Today, Melville is considered to be the spiritual father of the French New Wave.
In 1963, Melville was invited as a Jury at the 13th Berlin International Film Festival.
Melville eventually became well known for his tragic, minimalist film noir crime dramas. Most notably, this included writing and directing the second and final film of which he is best known.
This was the 1967 French Eastmancolor crime/drama film 'Le Samouraï' ('The Godson').
The film follows hit man Jef Costello (Alain Delon), of whom goes through an elaborate set of rituals before carrying out a hit on a nightclub owner.
Always thorough and cool in his job, Costello is disconcerted to discover a witness to the killing, the club's female piano player. However, before he can act, the police arrest him in a sweep of suspects.
Released when the main witness does not come forward, Costello goes from being the hunter to the hunted, trailed by the determined police as well as his crime bosses.
In the alternate ending, in an interview with Portuguese writer Rui Nogueira, Melville stated that he had originally filmed Costello meeting his death with a picture-perfect grin.
The scene was changed after Melville angrily discovered that Delon had already used a smiling death scene in another of his films. Still images of the smiling death exist.
'The Godson' was released on October 25, 1967, receiving positive reviews with praise for Melville's screenwriting and direction, and Delon's performance and atmosphere.
In 1972, a dubbed version of the film was released in the United States as 'The Godson', apparently to capitalize on the success of Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Godfather'.
'The Godson' is currently Melville's highest-rated film, holding 100% on Rotten Tomatoes based on thirty-one reviews.
The critics consensus reads: "Le Samouraï makes the most of its spare aesthetic, using stylish -- and influential -- direction, solid performances, and thick atmosphere to weave an absorbing story."
Although a friend of left-wing icons such as Italian-French actor and singer Yves Montand, Melville referred to himself as "an extreme individualist" and "a right-wing anarchist" in terms of politics.
Four years later, Melville wrote his 1971 autobiographical book "Melville on Melville (Volume 16 of Cinema One)". The work is a book-length interview with Nogueira, of whom also served as its editor.
Two years later, Melville passed from a stroke while dining with writer French author, journalist and film director Philippe Labro at the Hôtel PLM Saint-Jacques restaurant in Paris, France on August 2, 1973. He was 55.
Melville was then writing his next film, 'Contre-enquête', a spy thriller for French film producer Jacques-Éric Strauss with Montand in the lead. Melville had apparently already scripted the first two hundred shots for the film.
After Melville's death, Labro took over the project, hoping to finish writing and direct it himself. However, he eventually dropped it to film his 1974 French drama film 'Le hasard et la violence' ('Chance and Violence'), also starring Montand and for producer Strauss.
In September 1981, Canby wrote: "Melville's affection for American gangster movies may have never been as engagingly and wittily demonstrated as in Bob le Flambeur, which was only the director's fourth film, made before he had access to the bigger budgets and the bigger stars (Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon) of his later pictures."
One of the very few filmmakers we deeply cherish above almost all others and whose work we hold in the greatest esteem is Melville, the highly influential French filmmaker who reached his peak in the 1960s, and succumbed to a heart attack. Melville was 55.
Even though intense gangster films probably first come to mind when one considers Melville’s career, the truth is he showed a wide range and diverse interests throughout his filmmaking life.
Once the war finished, Melville kept his new name and went on to make movies, many of which visibly affected by his war-time experiences.
The sheer scope of the influence that his work still wields over filmmakers around the globe is unbelievable, as he not only captured the attention and imagination of millions of film-lovers, but also stimulated filmmakers, swayed them into perfecting their craft.
John Woo ('The Killer'), for instance, said Melville was God to him, praising the French filmmaker’s fresh, unprecedented approach to old American gangster films they both admired.
Woo's 1989 Hong Kong action/crime thriller film 'Dip huet seung hung' ('The Killer') was heavily influenced by the plot of 'The Godson', with the pianist replaced by a singer.
Chow Yun-fat's character Jeffrey Chow (international character name for Ah Jong) was obviously inspired by Alain Delon's Jef Costello.
The inspiration, or homage, is confirmed by the similarity in the character names. Woo acknowledged his influences by writing a short essay on 'The Godson' and Melville's techniques for the film's Criterion Collection DVD release.
Woo continued by saying, "Melville approached this subject intelligently and like a gentleman, with lots of self-control, which enabled him to make movies that seemed cold and distanced, but are bound to make an emotional impact on the viewer."
In his June 1997 review, Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four in his review, writing: "Like a painter or a musician, a filmmaker can suggest complete mastery with just a few strokes." In 2003, Ebert added 'The Godson' to his Great Movies list.
In 2010, 'The Godson' was ranked #39 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema".
Ryan Gosling's nameless protagonist in Danish film director, screenwriter, and producer Nicolas Winding Refn's similarly named 2011 American neo-noir action/thriller drama film 'Drive' also shares many key characteristics with Jef Costello.
Variety, reviewing the original release, called 'The Godson' "a curious hybrid" that "appears a bit too solemn to inject all the suspense, action and characterization [Melville] seeks," and "almost seems to be an American film dubbed into French" that "could be cut a bit.
American film and theatre critic for the New York Times Vincent Canby called the original film "immaculate," but criticized the dubbing in the 1972 version released in the United States (as 'The Godson') as "disorienting" and "dreadful."
Jean-Pierre Melville involves us in the spell of Le Samourai (1967) before a word is spoken. He does it with light: a cold light, like dawn on an ugly day. And color: grays and blues. And actions that speak in place of words", with Ebert even granting the film his title of "Great Movie".
Melville ultimately became so identified with the style of tragic, minimalist film noir crime dramas that British journalist and film critic for The New Yorker Anthony Lane wrote the following about a 2017 retrospective of his films:
"This is how you should attend the forthcoming retrospective of Jean-Pierre Melville movies at Film Forum: Tell nobody what you are doing. Even your loved ones—especially your loved ones—must be kept in the dark.
If it comes to a choice between smoking and talking, smoke. Dress well but without ostentation. Wear a raincoat, buttoned and belted, regardless of whether there is rain.
Any revolver should be kept, until you need it, in the pocket of the coat. Finally, before you leave home, put your hat on. If you don’t have a hat, you can’t go."
Among his credits,Melville is also known for directing 'The Silence of the Sea' (1949), 'Léon Morin, Pries (1961), 'Le Doulos' (1962), 'Second Breath' (1966), 'Army of Shadows' (1969), 'The Red Circle' (1970),and 'Un flic' (1972).
Aside from Woo, Melville had also influenced Japanese comedian, television presenter, actor, filmmaker, and author Takeshi Kitano ('Fireworks'), Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter Ringo Lam and Hong Kong film director and producer Johnnie To.
In Europe, this included Rainer Werner Fassbinder ('The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant', 'Ali: Fear Eats the Soul', 'Fox and His Friends', 'The Marriage of Maria Braun'), and Finnish screenwriter and film director Aki Kaurismäki ''Ariel', 'Le Havre').
In the United States, this included Quentin Tarantino, William Friedkin, Michael Mann, Jim Jarmusch, and American film director, screenwriter and producer Walter Hill.
Melville had been active from 1946–1972.
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