The Old Gun

1975 [FRENCH]

Action / Drama / Thriller / War

6
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 92% · 3 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 92% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 5587 5.6K

dying and death rape repayment ss (nazi schutzstaffel) southern france world war ii

Plot summary

In Montauban in 1944, Julien Dandieu in a surgeon in the local hospital. Frightened by the German army entering Montauban, he asks his friend Francois to drive his wife and his daughter in the back country village where Julien has an old castle. One week later, Julien decided to meet then for the week end, but the Germans are already occupying the village.

Director

Robert Enrico Photo
Robert Enrico

Top cast

Antoine Saint-John Photo
Antoine Saint-John as German Soldier Killed in the Kitchen
Marie-France Mignal Photo
Marie-France Mignal
Romy Schneider Photo
Romy Schneider as Clara Dandieu
Daniel Breton Photo
Daniel Breton
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
898.46 MB
1204*720
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   fr  
25 fps
1 hr 37 min
Seeds 9
1.63 GB
1792*1072
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   fr  
25 fps
1 hr 37 min
Seeds 19

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ma-cortes 7 / 10

Violent and thought-provoking WWII drama in which a surgeon seeks vengeance against Nazis

Strong War/drama set in France during WWII with marvelous main cast as Philippe Noiret and Romy Schneider . Montauban in 1944, Julien Dandieu (Philippe Noiret) is a doctor in the local hospital. Frightened by the Nazi army coming Montauban, and occupying the little town , he asks his partner Francois (Jean Bouise ) to led his spouse (Romy Schneider) and daughter in the back country villa where Julien owns an old mansion . Some days later, Julien decided to meet then for the weekend, but the Nazis are already taking the village and the castle . He turns into Revenger Angel when his family is attacked by furious Germans (Joachim Hansen , Robert Hoffman ) , as his wife is fired and daughter is shot. Then he stalks the Nazis and takes the law into his own hands, searching vengeance .This exciting film contains romantic elements , brooding drama ,suspense , intrigue, thrills and lots of violence. Noiret is top-notch in a fully-formed main role as grief-plagued surgeon becoming avenger and he displays efficiently his old rifle killing mercilessly nasties .It's certainly thrilling , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time, as the spectators were clearly on the Noiret-Julien's side . It has a complex pace by means flashbacks in which are narrated the lovely relationship between the amiable surgeon and the attractive Romy Schneider . Colorful cinematography by Becker , being correctly remastered . Enjoyable musical score including a sensible leitmotif is composed and conducted by Francois De Roubaix .The motion picture is stunningly written and directed by by Robert Enrico . He was a good professional who directed interesting films as ¨Jailsbird vacation¨ , ¨Rum Runners¨, ¨The wise guys¨ and his masterpiece ¨The adventurers¨ and of course ¨The old fusil¨ . Rating : 7,5 , better than average. The film will appeal to French cinema lovers
Reviewed by brogmiller 7 / 10

Fighting fire with fire!

On June 10th 1944, less than two weeks before the Normandy landings, almost the entire population of the village of Oradour-sur-Glane was slaughtered by members of a Waffen SS division. That atrocity is not reconstructed here but forms the basis of Robert Enrico's film.Surgeon Julien Dandieu arrives at the village where he grew up, the castle of which he happens to own, only to find a scene of mass carnage in which his beloved wife and daughter have perished. His unbearable grief soon gives way to a natural, all-consuming hatred for the Nazi perpetrators who have taken over the castle. Taking advantage of his intimate knowledge of the castle with all its hidden passages and armed only with a double-barrelled shotgun used for hunting wild boar, he sets about stalking his human prey and exacting retribution. The method by which he disposes of the highest ranking SS officer is singularly appropriate.Suffice to say this is a grim, harrowing and violent film, at times graphically so but has great tension, momentum and first class editing.It is in effect an early 'vigilante' movie but is well balanced by being a love story also. The use of flashbacks to show the domestic bliss of Dandieu, his wife Clara and their daughter is dramatically very effective.As Clara the wondrous Romy Schneider once again touches the heartstrings.The film proved extremely popular with French audiences who had never seen anything like it before. Despite its merits I am not certain that it deserved to win the César for Best Picture although its emotive subject matter no doubt helped and the competition that year was not that stiff. I also found the jaunty title music of Enrico's preferred composer Francois de Roubaix rather incongruous. Pleased to say that the superlative Philippe Noiret in his second collaboration with this director, was awarded the first of his two Césars and a Donatello for his riveting performance as Dandieu. Also of note are Jean Bouise giving his customary understated performance as a family friend and the excellent Joachim Hansen who has succeeded in making the SS officer more than just a one-dimensional nasty Nazi.This piece, which established Enrico as a director, mixes the genres of war, action, romance and it must be said, exploitation.We must not lose track of the horrific historical event that inspired the film which acts as a distressing reminder of the barbaric cruelty to which humans can sink.
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