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France10 Essential French FilmsStop 8 of 10
Le Samouraï
A coolly professional Parisian hitman who lives by a rigid, samurai-like code finds himself squeezed between a dogged police inspector and the employers who want him dead after a job goes wrong. Jean-Pierre Melville's impeccably spare, influential crime film.
Why it’s here
Jean-Pierre Melville’s stripped-down crime film is a defining French genre work whose style has had exceptional international influence.
- Runtime
- 105 min
- Genre
- Crime · Thriller · Drama
- Mood
- tense · thoughtful
- Entry
- some context
- Best for
- film history
Content notes: violence or threat Non-exhaustive