The Outsider (1983)

Movie
German title	The outsider
Original title	Le Marginal
Country of production	France
original language	French
Publishing year	1983
length	100 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Jacques Deray
script	Jacques Deray, Jean Herman , Michel Audiard (dialogues)
production	Alain Belmondo
music	Ennio Morricone
camera	Xaver Schwarzenberger
cut	Albert Jurgenson
occupation
Jean-Paul Belmondo : Commissioner Philippe Jordan Henry Silva : Sauveur Meccacci Carlos Sotto Mayor : Livia Dolores Maria Monteblanco Pierre Vernier : Inspector Rojinski Maurice Barrier : Tonton Claude Brosset : Antonio Baldi Tcheky Karyo : Francis Pierron Jacques Maury : Maitre Cappa Roger Dumas : Inspector Simon Gabriel Cattand : Conductor Dumas Michel Robin : Alfred (Freddy the Chemist) Jean-Claude Dreyfus : The Transvestite

The Outsider (Original Title: Le Marginal ) is a French action film from 1983 directed by Jacques Deray with Jean-Paul Belmondo in the leading role.

action

Commissioner Jordan is sent from Paris to Marseille to prevent the export of drugs abroad. From an informant he violently beats out the information about when and with which boat the next delivery is on its way. But the speedboat threatens to escape the police and so Jordan flies afterwards with the helicopter and throws the bags with 200 kg of heroin on board into the sea. The owner of the goods, Meccacci, retaliated by depositing Jordan's informants dead in the inspector's apartment.

Jordan is transferred to the moral police in Paris for his behavior . But his colleague Rojinski there supports him in cornering Meccacci, much to the displeasure of his new boss. In prison he learns from his old friend Tonton the whereabouts of Alfred, who is supposed to serve as a key witness for the conviction of Meccacci. In return, he brings his 16-year-old daughter from a brothel. Shortly before a meeting with Alfred at the Gare de l'Est , Alfred is shot by two of Meccacci's people. Jordan catches one of them, Antonio Villa, and takes him to the police station for questioning.

Jordan now suspects that his best friend Francis, who runs slot machines, is also working with Meccacci and speaks to him about it. After Francis Meccacci explains that he wants to end his collaboration with him, Francis breaks in and smashes his machine. When Francis hears the intruders, he takes a gun and shoots one of them. Shortly afterwards he is shot himself by another henchman.

After the captured hit man had talked about Alfred, Jordan found out that Meccacci's henchman had given the order to Baldi. An arranged meeting with Baldi turns out to be an ambush in which he was supposed to be killed, but Jordan takes his weapon and kills the assassins who previously riddled Baldi's car with shots. With the aim of executing Meccacci in vigilante justice, he looks for him and shoots him with Baldi's gun. He later receives news from Rojinski via a radio patrol that Meccacci was murdered by an unknown person. When Rojinski tells him that an internal gang feud is suspected, he goes on his way satisfied.

Reviews

The lexicon of international films described the film as a "routinely staged action film with a minimum of plot, but which offers numerous opportunities for shooting and beating". In addition, the film is "questionable due to the propagation of violence and vigilante justice and the unrestrained articulation of prejudices".

Cinema criticized that Belmondo would "beat down his acting career to Chuck Norris level in this macho spectacle". The fact that “the reactionary message comes in perfect action dramaturgy” would only make it “even more devious”.

Prisma said that Deray had tailored the film to “his indestructible leading actor Jean-Paul Belmondo” and was betting on “a lot of turbulent action”.

background

• The cinema release in France was on October 26, 1983, in West Germany on October 28, 1983.
• The film was a huge success in France with almost 5 million admissions. Around 1.5 million people saw the film in West Germany.
• In addition to playing down violence and vigilante justice, the film was also criticized for its one-sided portrayal of foreigners and homosexuals. The Turkish Embassy in Paris found it an affront that its Turkish diplomats and the cultural attaché are portrayed as drug traffickers.

Web links

• The outsider in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The outsider in the online film database
• The outsider in the German dubbing index
• Comparison of the cut versions FSK 16 VHS - FSK 16 DVD by Der Aussenseiter at Schnittberichte.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Release certificate for The Outsider . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , April 2004 (PDF; test number: 54 183 DVD).
2. ↑ The outsider. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed November 6, 2017 .  
3. ↑ film review on cinema.de
4. ↑ Film review on prisma.de
5. ↑ Release info according to IMDb
6. ↑ Box office / business according to IMDb
7. ↑ Booklet of the DVD
8. ↑ Film review on Kino.de