There is always a joy to watching Lee Marvin act, as you never know what he’s going to do next and you have the sense that him punching you is always a viable option. So, it’s rather fitting that his third to last film has a script that feels the same way. It’s was originally based Jean Herman’s novel of the same name, and then went through three other screenwriters until director Yves Boisset got his hands on it. Needless to say, the director behind the criminally underappreciated sci-fi death-TV masterwork that is Le Prix Du Danger insured that it had social commentary, blunt violence, and an uneasy touch of surrealism.

The film starts in recognisable Marvin territory, with him playing Jimmy Cobb: professional criminal and pro-am lady’s man. He’s in France to do a security van job, and the Gendarmerie are out to arrest him because of all the violence that he uses in such escapades. Bloody yet stylish mayhem erupts, including a school kid being shot square in the chest, and he legs it from the cops to hid his loot in a corn field in an undefined rural part of Southern France.
Any semblance to a by-the-numbers crime drama then says “Bon voyage” as we are introduced to the most dysfunctional farmstead this side of Straw Dogs. Whilst Marvin tries to hide out from the feds, the audience tries to work out exactly what went wrong with a family that includes a nymphomaniac, a suicidal grandmother, a tyrannical husband and a frankly very justifiably depressed wife (Miou-Miou). There is also Chim (David Bennent), a child clearly suffering from growing up in such an insufferably environment and who effortlessly steals every scene he’s in.

The plot from there on is too random and convoluted to go into much detail without regurgitating the script. Needless to say that things are tense by the nature of the set-up, get further complicated by Marvin hiding from the cops and then the cops helicoptering in to try and find him, get further muddied by local criminal elements, and that anyone saying “oooh, I know what’s going to happen next!” is lying, wrong, or watched it before.

As this is a very French film (everyone speaks their native tongue and is dubbed into English) there is probably a lot of very French satire and critique going on, or at least that’s my assumption as to why parts are Allo! Allo! mixed with Deliverance. Incest, spousal & elderly abuse, Americanisation, poverty, the decline of the French Empire, racism, sexual assault, and general unpleasantness are liberally sprinkled around like confetti, although the more horrific stuff is implied rather than detailed. There is also enough attention to detail (including the only usage of Chekov’s Hand Grenada I’ve been witness to) to make it all seem intended, and it has enough style and energy to avoid you getting bored.

However, as said above it can come across as quite random and backgrounds/affecting traums are suggested at rather than discussed or presented so not everyone will find it to their tastes. Whilst Marvin starts as the main protagonist he soon becomes our point of view for the madness he’s fallen into, and his inevitable fate is to inexplicably be swept up in it. Great if you like tone and style, not much fun if you want solid story or reasoning.
Personally, I thought it was an outright Treasure, if only because to these eyes the cultural distance gave it much greater depth to explore and consider. It was a hell house ride of misfortune, which is a staple of horrors so made for interesting viewing in what was dressed as a realistic gangster thriller. Marvin, Miou, and Bennent do an incredible job of their complex and world beaten characters, whilst everyone else chews scenery with deliberate dedication. Every shot is beautiful, often twistedly so, and you’ll be mulling over the reason for things for days after. Probably whilst fighting the urge to have a Gauloises and Pernod.

The Raggedyman