Le Doulos
Le Doulos is a 1963 French crime film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, adapted from the novel of the same name by Pierre Lesou. It was released theatrically as The Finger Man in the English-speaking world, but all video and DVD releases have used the French title. Intertitles at the beginning of the film explain that its title refers both to a kind of hat and to the slang term for a police informant.
Plot
Maurice Faugel, just released from prison after serving a six-year sentence, meets a friend, Gilbert, who is appraising the value of jewels from a recent heist. Maurice is planning a robbery the next day with two accomplices, Silien and Rémy. Maurice kills Gilbert with Gilbert's own gun and steals the jewels as well as a large sum of money. It is later revealed that Gilbert killed Maurice's girlfriend Arlette to keep her from informing the police when Maurice was sent to prison six years prior. Maurice leaves the house just as Nuttheccio and Armand, prominent gangsters, arrive to collect the loot. Maurice buries the jewels, money, and gun under a lamppost.
More details
| author | Jean-Pierre Melville |
|---|---|
| director | Jean-Pierre Melville |
| editor | Michele Boehm Monique Bonnot |
| genre | crime thriller |
| keywords | botched robbery bury criminal underworld even frame jail kill maneuver moving in neuilly neuilly-sur-seine pick up plan ponthierry rescue run away saint-fargeau-ponthierry shoot stolen jewel wait |
| musicBy | Jacques Loussier |
| theme | gangster neo-noir stag |