Death of a Corrupt Man [Mort d’un pourri] ****(1977, Alain Delon, Ornella Muti, Stéphane Audran, Klaus Kinski, Mireille Darc, Maurice Ronet) – Classic Movie Review 14,015

Director Georges Lautner’s 1977 French thriller film Death of a Corrupt Man [Mort d’un pourri] stars Alain Delon, Ornella Muti, Stéphane Audran, Klaus Kinski, Mireille Darc, and Maurice Ronet.

Director Georges Lautner’s 1977 French thriller film Death of a Corrupt Man [Mort d’un pourri] stars Alain Delon, Ornella Muti, Stéphane Audran, Klaus Kinski, Mireille Darc, and Maurice Ronet.

Maurice Ronet plays French parliamentary political deputy Philippe Dubaye, who wakes up his old friend Xavier ‘Xav’ Maréchal (Alain Delon) to tell him that he had last night killed Serrano, a colleague from the National Assembly as well as a racketeer with political connections.

Serrano kept a huge dossier which included proofs of Dubaye’s involvement in corrupt dealings and was ready to use them against the deputy. Serrano was demanding Dubaye’s resignation, threatening to expose his corruption to the press.

After killing Serrano, Dubaye seized his notebook documenting corrupt acts involving various political figures. Xavier Maréchal, ‘Xav’, retrieves the dossier and hides it in a locker at the RER station in the La Défense business district.

Xavier readily agrees to cover up for his old pal Philippe and provide him with an alibi for the time of the murder, but he soon runs into big difficulties and a whole lot of trouble. Nobody believes Dubaye’s alibi and everybody – powerful businessmen, dubious go-betweens and the police – wants to get hold of the blackmail documents by all possible means.

This is a very interesting film, a mix of action thriller, political thriller and murder mystery, most intriguing, most entertaining and, above all perhaps, most tastily plotted. It works very well, and has dated well, a few crazy 70s hair styles and clothes apart. The excellent jazz score is a huge asset for mood and atmosphere. The score was composed and arranged by Philippe Sarde and features saxophonist Stan Getz fronting the London Symphony Orchestra. Classy stuff.

Alain Delon is extremely gainfully employed, by himself it turns out, with his haggard good looks put to useful, world weary advantage. He is a star, actually the star, but this isn’t starry. He’s a good actor, giving it all low key, cynical, with his steely, dead-eyed stare to the foreground. He’s the film’s detective really, a Humphrey Bogart character French style. Maurice Ronet (Delon’s co-star in Purple Rain) is good too, but, given his ‘and Maurice Ronet’ billing, you know he isn’t going to be around for ever. Just like in Purple Rain in fact. But this time somebody else bumps off Ronet, and Delon is driven desperately to find out who. There’s a lot of other bad stuff going down. Paris is a hive of corruption. But Delon is only concerned about the death of his buddy. We don’t get much back story to their friendship, so we have to take it on trust. We don’t even know much about Xavier (Xav), who the heck he is, what he’s been up to. We just go with the Delon flow. It works.

Stéphane Audran plays Dubaye’s hard drinking, couldn’t care less, slightly over the hill wife, a really unforgiving role that understandably slightly defeats this fine actress. Ornella Muti plays Dubaye’s mistress Valérie Agostinelli, a role that is almost entirely merely decorative, and the gorgeous Muti fits the bill exactly. A most entertaining Klaus Kinski turns on the creepy big time as Nicolas Tomski, a mysterious businessman who aggressively pressures Xav to hand over the notebook. Mireille Darc (Delon’s partner from1968 to 1983) plays Xav’s partner Françoise. It’s not much of a part, a nothing role, just a star cameo really.

Michel Aumont as Commissaire Moreau, Jean Bouise as Commissaire Pernais, Daniel Ceccaldi as Lucien Lacor and Julien Guiomar as Fondari are all playing further creeps of one kind or another, again creepily, nearly as creep as Kinski.

There are two or three brilliantly staged action sequences to keep thriller fans enthralled, particularly a high-speed truck chase. Delon and the stuntmen handle it all seemingly effortlessly.

The film’s really quite stylish in its 70s way, physically nimble and quick witted, and bright and intelligent too, strangely thoughtful reflective despite the flashes of action and violence.

The ambitious Delon produces this star vehicle for himself, and it’s a good one. It’s not quite a one-man show, as clearly there are a bunch of other actors in it, and showy, strong ones too, giving flashy star character actor turns, but all the focus is on Delon, holding centre stage powerfully.

Ah, yes, Death of a Corrupt Man. Which man are we talking about? A series of deaths takes place throughout the movie, each one a Corrupt Man. Only two of them does Delon care about. His Corrupt friend and the Corrupt Man who killed him. The film makes its points about corruption powerfully. Michel Audiard’s screenplay is clever and witty, based on a novel by French journalist Jean Laborde (under the pen name of Raf Vallet) that offers plenty in the way of plot and characters.

Georges Lautner previously directed the 1968 French crime film Pasha [Le Pacha] starring Jean Gabin and Dany Carrel and based on Jean Laborde’s novel Pouce!.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 14,015

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