Pssst, want to check out Le professionnel in our new look?
Information
- A.k.a.
- The Professional
- Year
- 1981
- Runtime
- 108 min.
- Director
- Georges Lautner
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Rating *
- 7.6
- Votes *
- 10,930
- Checks
- 621
- Favs
- 56
- Dislikes
- 4
- Favs/checks
- 9.0% (1:11)
- Favs/dislikes
- 14:1
Top comments
-
Siskoid
1981's The Professional (Le professionnel) has Jean-Paul Belmondo as a French secret agent sold out by his agency before he could assassinate an African despot, resulting in two years in a harsh African prison. This is all prologue to his return to France to exact vengeance - beautiful, poetic vengeance - on the people who abandoned him for political reasons. It's pretty great. Based on the dialog, Belmondo is maybe a little old for the part, but his eroded face is a monument to his hardships and works for the picture (so what I'm saying is, he should have been gone more than 2 years). Not only is he smart and audacious, staying a step ahead of his former cohorts as they try to stop him, but also very witty. I love his flippant humor. Ennio Morricone's score for this is surprisingly romantic, as if to put him in the right no matter what he's doing - the music certainly doesn't cover any of the other characters - good on its own, but I often questioned its style. And make no mistake, there's something of the exploitative in this, with garish violence, gratuitous nudity, and the n-word bandied about. I do wonder how they got permission to film that chase scene in and around Paris' tourist attractions though, woah. 3 years ago -
