|   Avg. user rating: 26 ratings Kiss Me Deadly: Hollywood's Baddest Screen GangstersThe Continental Criminal: Alain Delon as Corey in
"Le Cercle Rouge" Matinee idol
Alain Delon is much more than a pretty face. In the three crime films he made
with Jean-Pierre Melville, he's the most existential of cinema gangsters, a
grim, near-fatalistic loner with an unbending... more and unforgiving code
professionalism. That he's also the most beautiful outlaw in this rogue's
gallery is just sauce for the goose. In "Le Cercle Rouge," he's an ex-con who
writes off the former partner and ex-girlfriend who betrayed his trust and finds
a more dependable loyalty in the company of classy, uncompromising crooks who
unite for a jewel heist. This is a world where robberies are choreographed like
elaborate ballets and men don't communicate with words but with swapped guns,
shared tools and offered cigarettes as signs of respect. He's the fallen angel
of gangster archetypes, the saint of the underworld in a trench coat and fedora,
and there's no regrets behind his steely blue eyes, just pain and patience. Close | |