History Film / LeSamourai

* SilenceIsGolden: The movie goes ten minutes before the first word of dialogue. The first three scenes--Jef leaves his apartment, Jef steals a car, Jef meets a fellow hoodlum who changes the plates and gives him a gun--take place in silence, and not a word is spoken until he meets Jane to arrange an alibi.

* InLoveWithTheMark: [[spoiler:Jef is implied to feel this way about the nightclub musician who supported his alibi (and she to him), but it might just be his code of honor]].

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: ''Everything'' in Jef's shabby little apartment is gray--the floor, the walls, the sheets. Even the bird is gray! The opening scene looks like it's a black-and-white film, except for Jef's face providing a little SplashOfColor. The nightclub where Jef kills a guy is also monochromatic, done up in all black and silver and glass.

* HitmanWithAHeart: [[spoiler:Costello would rather die alone than kill [[InLoveWithTheMark the bystander who supported his alibi.]] ]]

* TheChanteuse: In this case, a nightclub pianist.

-->- -''[[BlatantLies The Book of Bushido]]''

''Le Samouraï'', known in the US as ''The Godson'' or ''Cop Out'' (no, not ''that'' CopOut), is a 1967 French Crime thriller directed by Creator/JeanPierreMelville and starring Alain Delon. It follows a perfectionist hitman named Jef Costello as he sets up an alibi, performs a hit, and then tries to get away with it, all while staying true to his Bushido-like {{code of honor}}. He eventually finds himself on the run from both the police and [[ContractOnTheHitman his former employers]].

* NiceHat: Costello's fedora hats. Its also how he's identified by some of the witnesses.

%%* NiceHat

* TheRemake: A loose remake of the 1942 film noir ''This Gun for Hire'' starring Alan Ladd.

''Le Samouraï'', known in the US as ''The Godson'' or ''Cop Out'' (no, not ''that'' CopOut), is a 1967 French Crime thriller directed by Creator/JeanPierreMelville and starring Alain Delon. It follows a perfectionist hitman named Jef Costello as he sets up an alibi, performs a hit, and then tries to get away with it, all while staying true to his [[McSamurai Bushido-like]] {{code of honor}}. He eventually finds himself on the run from both the police and [[ContractOnTheHitman his former employers]].

''Le Samouraï'', known in the US as ''The Godson'' or ''Cop Out'' (no, not ''that'' CopOut), is a 1967 French Crime thriller directed by Creator/JeanPierreMelville and starring Alain Delon. It follows a perfectionist hitman named Jef Costello as he sets up an alibi, performs a hit, and then tries to get away with it, all while staying true to his Bushido-like {{code of honor}}. He eventually finds himself on the run from both the police and [[ContractOnTheHitman his former employers]].

* UnnaturallyBlueLighting: Used to emphasize the cold nature of the characters and to invoke the feel of FilmNoir. Director Melville said that his goal was to try and "make a black-and-white film in color".

''Le Samouraï'', known in the US as ''The Godson'' or ''Cop Out'' (no, not ''that'' CopOut), is a 1967 French Crime thriller directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Alain Delon. It follows a perfectionist hitman named Jef Costello as he sets up an alibi, performs a hit, and then tries to get away with it, all while staying true to his Bushido-like {{code of honor}}. He eventually finds himself on the run from both the police and [[ContractOnTheHitman his former employers]].

''Le Samouraï'', known in the US as ''The Godson'' or ''Cop Out'' (no, not ''that'' CopOut), is a 1967 French Crime thriller directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Alain Delon. It follows a perfectionist hitman named Jef Costello as he sets up an alibi, performs a hit, and then tries to get away with it, all while staying true to his Bushido-like code of honor. He eventually finds himself on the run from both the police and [[ContractOnTheHitman his former employers]].

''Le Samourai'', known in the US as ''The Godson'' or ''Cop Out'' (no, not ''that'' CopOut), is a 1967 French Crime thriller directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Alain Delon. It follows a perfectionist hitman named Jef Costello as he sets up an alibi, performs a hit, and then tries to get away with it, all while staying true to his Bushido-like code of honor. He eventually finds himself on the run from both the police and [[ContractOnTheHitman his former employers]].

->"There is no greater solitude than that of the samurai, unless it is that of the tiger in the jungle... Perhaps..."
-->--''[[BlatantLies The Book of Bushido]]''

* MeaningfulName: The main character's (not French at all) name, "Jef Costello", is a reference to both Robert Mitchum's character in the ''FilmNoir'' classic ''Out Of the Past'' and to famous American mobster Frank Costello ([[NamesTheSame NOT]], ''[[TheDeparted that]]'' [[JackNicholson Frank Costello]])
* NiceHat

* CrazyPrepared: Costello (and the people who follow him) appear to have a ring containing ''every possible car or house key in Paris.''
** This is obviously what we in France call a ''passe-partout'' (lit. "go through anywhere"), which is basically a ring of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeleton_key skeleton keys]].

* RealitySubtext: It was revealed in later years that Alain and Nathalie Delon had connections to French organized crime.

''Le Samourai'', known in the US as ''The Godson'' or ''Cop Out'' (no, not ''that'' CopOut),is a 1967 French Crime thriller directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Alain Delon. It follows a perfectionist hitman named Jef Costello as he sets up an alibi, performs a hit, and then tries to get away with it, all while staying true to his Bushido-like code of honor. He eventually finds himself on the run from both the police and [[ContractOnTheHitman his former employers]].

* [[spoiler:HitmanWithAHeart]]: [[spoiler:Costello would rather die alone than kill [[InLoveWithTheMark the bystander who supported his alibi.]] ]]
* [[spoiler:InLoveWithTheMark]]: [[spoiler:Jef is implied to feel this way about the nightclub musician who supported his alibi (and she to him), but it might just be his code of honor]].
* MarketBasedTitle / NonindicativeTitle: For its US release, LeSamourai was retitled TheGodson in order to cash in on the gangster craze started by Film/TheGodfather.

* SkeletonKey: Costello carries a huge ring of keys that enables him to steal any Citroën DS. Tension is created in one scene as he tests one key after another in an ignition as a pair of patrolling police officers walk down the street towards him; the car starts before they get close enough to realise he's stealing the car.

* SkeletonKey

->"There is no greater solitude than that of the samurai unless it is that of the tiger in the jungle... Perhaps..."
-->--'''[[BlatantLies The Book of Bushido]]'''

* CareerKiller: Partially averted. Jef is extremely skilled and ''certainly'' a BadassInANiceSuit (see above), but barely speaks and lives in a crapsack two-room apartment with only a bird for company.