Armaguedon [Armageddon] ** (1977, Alain Delon, Jean Yanne, Renato Salvatori, Philippe Chemin) – Classic Movie Review 13,738  

Alain Delon stars in Alain Jessua’s 1977 crime-thriller film Armaguedon [Armageddon], adapted from the 1974 novel The Voice of Armageddon by American novelist David Lippincott.

Alain Delon stars in writer/ director Alain Jessua’s 1977 crime-thriller film Armaguedon [Armageddon] [Quel giorno il mondo tremerà] adapted from the 1974 novel The Voice of Armageddon by American novelist, composer and lyricist David McCord Lippincott.

Jean Yanne plays repairman Louis Carrier, who, after years of poverty, inherits a large sum of money on his brother’s death in an accident. Becoming increasingly unstable, he begins to threaten police and the government, signing his tracts Armaguedon.

It also stars Renato Salvatori as Albert, aka Einstein, Michel Duchaussoy as Inspector Jacques Vivien, and Marie Déa as Gisèle Valin.

Armaguedon is a frustrating experience, lacking excitement as a thriller and not having enough substance or clarity as a social comment drama. There are lots of good actors to try to make it work but the oddball material doesn’t work too well in an off-putting, alienating movie you want to give up on fairly early on. It has to be counted an honourable failure.

Delon and Jessua previously worked successfully together on the 1973 psychological horror thriller film Shock Treatment [Traitement de choc], released in the UK by the eccentric Antony Balch as Doctor in the Nude, thanks to a a memorable and unexpected fun scene when several well-known French actors get naked.

Alain Delon and Renato Salvatori starred together in Rocco and His Brothers [Rocco e i suoi fratelli] (1960).

Alain Delon stars in Shock Treatment [Traitement de choc] with Annie Girardot, who also appears in Rocco and His Brothers [Rocco e i suoi fratelli].

Jean Yanne is best known for Que la bête meure [This Man Must Die] (1969) and Le Boucher [The Butcher} (1970), both directed by Claude Chabrol.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,738

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