Main Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bruno Cremer, Patrick Fierry, Jean Negroni, Jean-Pierre Jorris
Release Year: 1976
Country: FR
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
In France, the slang-word for "bounty hunter" is "alpagueur." When the police are working on cases where they do not want their presence officially known, they arrange for private individuals who specialize in this work to perform certain services, such as setting up major arrests. In this film, L'Alpageur is Jean-Paul Belmondo, who does his work with a considerable sense of humor, great charm, and in as "clean" a way as possible. First, he busts a drug-trafficking ring operating out of Rotterdam by observing that a certain "pregnant" woman moves in an unusual fashion. Her "baby" turns out to be a large, specially shaped package of heroin. The drug kingpins stung by his operation seek to find the man who thwarted them, but because L'Alpageur is known only to a few in the police department, the drug barons' corrupt police friends cannot determine who he is. Later, he busts the leaders of a prostitution ring. While they were all gathered in one room, he fed nitrous oxide into that space, and they all fell unconscious following a few giddy, laugh-filled moments. This made it possible for him to arrest them without their ever seeing him. His most important case, however, is his search for "The Hawk," a bank-robber who uses local juvenile delinquents in each town to help him set up his thefts. After each robbery, he kills his helpers. One of them, however, has survived and has been put in jail. L'Alpageur is given a false identity and is put into jail alongside the youth. His job is to help the lad escape, and find the elusive, murderous bank robber. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Victor Garrivier - Doumecq; Claude Brosset - Granier; Charly Koubesserian - Prisonnier empoisonne; Jean-Luc Boutte - 2nd Bandit; Maurice Auzel - Truck Driver; Marc Lamole - 3rd Bandit
Credit
Paulette Breil - Costume Designer, Philippe Labro - Director, Jean Ravel - Editor, Michel Colombier - Composer (Music Score), Charly Koubesserian - Makeup, Bernard Evein - Production Designer, Jean Penzer - Cinematographer, Alain Belmondo - Production Manager, Bernard Bats - Sound/Sound Designer, Philippe Labro - Screenwriter, Jacques Lanzmann - Screenwriter
L'Alpagueur is a film adaptation of the original scenario from Philippe Labro directed by him and featuring Jean-Paul Belmondo in the title role and Bruno Cremer as L'Epervier.
Released in 1976 and considered as a typical French thriller from the 70's, it is one of many Belmondo's movie where he is playing the title role. Like in Le Magnifique, L'Incorrigible or Le Marginal, Belmondo is the real star of the show, playing a solitary character and pursuing bad guys. The score from Michel Colombier is typical from this period, mixing piano, modern rhythms and brass instruments.
Plot
As one of the character is saying at the beginning of the movie:
L'alpagueur c'est un chasseur de tête, c'est un mercenaire, un marginal. L'alpagueur c'est l'astuce qu'a trouvé un haut fonctionnaire pour passer au-dessus de la routine policière.
The alpagueur is a head hunter, a mercenary, a marginal. The alpagueur is a trick made up by a state employee to be above the cop's routine.
Originally a deer hunter, l'Alpagueur became a head hunter working for the police, paid by them with money stolen from criminals. The main plot revolves around l'Alpagueur's pursuit of l'Épervier, (sparrowhawk) a bank robber and an assassin, who kills whoever sees him commit a crime. His technique is to pay a young and naive man to be his accomplice and kill him right after. One of his accomplices, Costa Valdez, is only wounded during one of his hold ups, and with his help, l'Alpagueur manages to find l'Épervier at the end.
