Mafia boss Ruidosa (Carl Studer) is to be put to trial in New York, and
in the world is only one man who could really testify against him (even if
he lives in France and has shown no indication to squeal): Rudi Hamberg
(Eddie Constantine). So Ruidosa sends two killers to France to get rid of
the little problem, too-cool-to-be-true Shaft (Henry Silva) and
hot-headed Phil (Jack Klugman), who claims Rudi has impregnated his sister
and then dumped her, and now he wants revenge.
But while the two killers drive through France and slowly discover
their similarities and differences (but without the film ever becoming a
bitter-sweet buddy-movie), Ruidosa is released by the police, and now the
least he needs is Rudi killed, as this could stain his white collar. So he
sends another man after the two killers, and somehow this man makes it to
Rudi's place first ... but Rudi has long expected someone to kill him sent
by Ruidosa, and he kills the man who was supposed to warn him, then lays a
trap for hte other two killers.
Shaft and Phil meanwhile have a fall-out, because Shaft thinks Phil is
a dirty rat, killing his friend for money, while Phil desperately triest o
convince him the story about his sister is true. In the end, despite
Rudi's ingenious trap, the killers corner him, then Phil makes him confess
that he screwed his sister and shoots and empties his gun into his chest.
The end ?
Not quite: Shaft has meanwhile found out that Phil made the whole story
about his sister up to save his best friend Rudi from being shot by
someone else, and the gun he emptied ionto his chest was loaded with
blanks ... all but the last bullet, which Phil has kept inside his gun in
case he had to shoot Shaft.
In the end, Shaft goes after Rudy with a gun carrying real bullets,
while Phil goes after Shaft, but feels uneasy about shooting him because
the two have grown quite friendly during their trip. Ultimately he can
shoot Shaft only after he has shot Rudi, and this way, everybody loses ...
even boss Ruidosa, who didn#t want Rudi to be killed after all.
Simply put, an underrated, almost forgotten gem.
This is an interesting mix of crime genre and road movie that gives not
too much of a heed about conventions of either genre, instead is focussed
on telling an interesting, unusual story that, despite consisting mainly
of dialogue, never gets boring. Actually, some of the
characters/characerisations and dialogues seem so much ahead of their time
they seem reminiscent of so-called innovative thrillers like Reservoir
Dogs rather than anything done in the mid-1960's. A great jazz score
by Hubert Rostaing also contributes to the movie's uniqueness.
Highest recommendation.
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