Fear over the city

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Fear over the city
Original title Peur sur la ville
Country of production France , Italy
original language French
Publishing year 1975
length 120 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Henri Verneuil
script Jean Laborde,
Francis Veber ,
Henri Verneuil
production Jean-Paul Belmondo
music Ennio Morricone
camera Jean Penzer
cut Pierre Gillette ,
Henri Lanoë
occupation

Peur sur la ville (original title: Peur sur la ville ) is a French-Italian action - thriller from 1975. Directed by Henri Verneuil plays Jean-Paul Belmondo a Parisian police commissioner on the hunt for a serial killer and at the same time in a second Fall after a bank robber. Verneuil and Belmondo jointly took care of the financing and production. As usual, Belmondo performed all of the stunts himself. An advertising budget of 1.5 million francs gave the film a presence in the media and on posters. The film was a box office success, reaching 835,000 admissions in Paris alone.

action

Inspector Letellier just had to cope with a bad career: During a wild chase after a bank robbery, the gangster Marcucci shot a passerby; the viewer experiences this in a flashback. Although it quickly turned out that the bullet did not come from Letellier's weapon, he still suffers from the temporary shame and, above all, the perpetrator's escape.

While Letellier continues to search for Marcucci - driven not least by a thirst for revenge - another case is assigned to him: Minos is the name of the man who kills various women one after the other whose lifestyle does not correspond to his moral ideas. With this - as Minos explains in his letters to the press and the police - he wants to eradicate the "sexual mud". His self-chosen nickname is a reference to Dante's Divine Comedy . In each of his letters he also adds a part of his photo showing him.

While Letellier is making slow progress in the investigation into Minos, Marcucci reappears in town. An unexpected opportunity for Letellier: he breaks off the car chase to Minos and follows Marcucci through the Paris subway. The gangster is killed and Letellier is accused by the press of having let the woman murderer go in favor of his thirst for revenge.

Minos can commit further murders, although the police, unbeknownst to him, are very close to him. After an unsuccessful car chase over the roofs of Paris, he is finally identified by his glass eye. When Minos takes hostages in a skyscraper, Letellier ropes down from the helicopter, jumps into the apartment through the closed window and overpowers the killer.

criticism

In France

The entire press praised Verneuil's ability to direct a police thriller, Positif noted. Certainly he shows firmness and an indisputable sense of rhythm in chases and shootings. However, the social background was missing, the characters were extremely schematic, the image of the police too flattering. Belmondo lends his face and stereotypical expressions as a trademark to the inspector, who is motivated by revenge in an unoriginal way. In their book about the actor, Guérif and Levy Klein named Angst über dem Stadt a film that above all wanted to amuse its audience. “Belmondo proves his physical form and gives the role of the superpoliceman [...] his mockery and his nonchalance. The audience laughs at his jokes, while the crook leaves blood. All of this is not very serious since it is just a conversation! As far as we are concerned, we deeply and sincerely regret that the actor - perhaps out of love for physical fitness - got lost in such a work. "

In Germany

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung found the film simple, not original, patriarchal and blasphemed about the two storylines and opponents. The time could not enjoy Belmondo's "brilliant" acrobatics because the film was "a cynical plea for the total police state" that heroically glorified the police officer's brutality. To depict the villain as a perverse monster, Verneuil makes use of resources that came from fascist cinema. Since the “end is the most unlawful means, the ground is being prepared ideologically for right-wing putschists.” The production was aiming for “nothing more than cash-safe entertainment,” said the film service . He didn't find the detective film elements original. The policeman and the criminal were given a profile, other characters did not. The 42-year-old Belmondo remains "still a boyish trait who, as just unruly and sympathetic cheek, belittles what, when looked at closely, is nothing more than the conversion of the fight against crime into a legal test of strength." Thanks to his physical daring, he is an ideal performer. “In return, you forgive him for some things that you would otherwise chalk up to the police […].” The lexicon of the international film wrote that Angst über der Stadt is “an action film routinely staged in the manner of a big city western, which offers exciting entertainment and minutely traces the work of the police. "

Trivia

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for Fear Over the City . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , February 2013 (PDF; test number: 47 570 V).
  2. François Guérif / Stéphane Levy Klein: Jean-Paul Belmondo. His films - his life. Heyne, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-453-86032-2 , pp. 66–67 and p. 125. (French original edition 1976)
  3. Guérif / Levy Klein 1981, p. 121
  4. ^ Frédéric Vitoux: Peur sur la ville . In: Positif , July 1975, pp. 106-107
  5. Guérif / Levy Klein 1981, p. 224
  6. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 6, 1975, p. 41: Fear over the city
  7. ^ Die Zeit, September 12, 1975: Film Tips
  8. film-dienst no. 15/1975, drawn by "ejW"
  9. Fear over the city. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used