Who was the coolest actor in the history of cinema? I’d vote for Alain Delon. And I suspect that many of the runners up got their style by copying Delon. (Compare Tony Leung and Delon.) If you are not familiar with Delon, check out his work in Jean-Pierre Melville’s noirs, especially The Samurai. Also films like Purple Noon, The Eclipse and The Leopard.
I was sad to hear that Delon died today. Wikipedia has a long section discussing the influence of his performance in The Samurai. Has there ever been a more influential performance? (Everything below is from Wikipedia)
Cinematic influence
Also, Alain Delon’s interpretations have influenced many colleagues, both in France and internationally, especially thanks to his role in The Samurai, often cited as one of the most influential films in history.[203] Director Melville wrote the film for Alain Delon and describes the genesis of this film:
« Suddenly, [Delon] looked at his watch and stopped me: “You’ve been reading the script for seven-and-a-half minutes and there hasn’t been a word of dialogue … that’s good enough for me. I’ll do the film. What’s the title?” Le samouraï I told him … and he then led me to his bedroom: all it contained was a leather couch and a samurai lance, his sword and dagger ».[204]
Director Bertrand Blier speculates that the meeting between Alain Delon and the filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville, “historic, charged with a mutual fascination“, was at the origin of the success of this classic: “The Samurai’ was a completely bizarre film. There has only been one film made like this in France. And it’s so much like Delon, this film: a mute, completely narcissistic role, where practically nothing happens. Delon sits in front of a mirror for an hour correcting the position of his hat! It had a lot of charm, it was a fascinating film. It was an extraordinary analysis of these two men, a formidable joint portrait of Melville / Delon”.[205]
Delon and Melville crystallize a film cited as one of the most influential in history, which will become an essential reference for many filmmakers. Without saying a word, he signaled for me to follow him. He led me to his room: it contained only a leather bed, a spear, a sword, and a samurai dagger. Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, Michael Mann, John Woo, Johnnie To, David Fincher, Bernardo Bertolucci, Aki Kaurismäki, Takeshi Kitano, Georges Lautner, Nicolas Winding Refn, Luc Besson, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen have all taken the motifs from this feature film, while adapting it to their respective directing styles.[206][207][208][209][210][211][212][213][214][215]
Thus, many New Hollywood films and critical successes such as William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971) and Francis Ford Coppola‘s The Conversation (1974) contain explicit references to The Samurai and the character of Jeff Costello played by Delon.[216][217][218]
The Samouraï
- The German film Liebe ist kälter als der Tod pays homage to French cinema masters like Claude Chabrol and Éric Rohmer. Furthermore, the directorial style of Ulli Lommel, as well as the artwork of the poster, draws inspiration from Alain Delon’s magnetic presence in Le Samouraï.[219]
- The influence of French cinema vis-à-vis Italian cinema is notable, particularly in the neo-thriller or poliziottesco genre. This film genre, which mixes elements of French thrillers and American film noir, has found in Delon a representative figure of the cold and methodical hitman, especially thanks to his role in Jean-Pierre Melville‘s Le Samouraï. The character of Jeff Costello, played by Delon, largely inspired Fernando Di Leo and his Middle Trilogy. In Milan Calibre 9, the first part of Di Leo’s Middle Trilogy, the main character, Ugo Piazza, played by Gastone Moschin, is a silent and relentless gangster, hunted by both the mafia and the police.[220] His impassive character and restrained intensity evoke Delon’s Jeff Costello. This influence is also evident in Il Boss, the final installment of the Middle Trilogy, where Henry Silva plays a lone killer reminiscent once again of Delon’s character in The Samurai.[221] Di Leo, a great admirer of Melville’s cinema, was clearly inspired by Melville’s aesthetics and themes.[222]
- The influence of the film Le Samouraï is also visible in Luc Besson‘s Léon: The Professional. Heir to Jeff Costello (the main character of The Samurai played by Delon), Jean Reno plays Léon, a lone hitman with a strict personal code (“no women, no children”).[223] Although Leon is less refined and warmer than Costello, similarities between the two characters are notable. Like Costello, Leon is a methodical professional, entirely dedicated to his work, but he is also able to show a certain humanity. Leon also lives a minimalist existence similar to Costello’s.[224]
- Martin Scorsese was permanently influenced by Meville’s Samurai. Paul Schrader, screenwriter of Taxi Driver, was himself inspired by the French film to draw from it the atmosphere and the dimension of modern alienation. Scorsese, steeped in the tradition of cinema noir, drew on this aesthetic to create Jeff Costello (Delon) Travis Bickle, the disenchanted taxi driver in Taxi Driver played by Robert De Niro.[225][226][227] In Kill! Delon’s influence is present in the film’s multifaceted approach to storytelling and character dynamics.
- Borsalino, a film released in 1969, tells the adventures of Roch Siffredi and François Cappella, two gangsters in Marseille in the 1930s. Played by Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo, Borsalino marks their only collaboration. This tandem, made up of two of the most popular French actors, inspired Robert Redford and Paul Newman to stage The Sting in 1973.[228][229]
- Alain Delon, through his interpretation of Jeff Costello, develops an archetype of the “silent and stoic antihero”. In The Driver, this model is taken up and adapted to the American context, with Ryan O’Neal playing the role of the anonymous and detached driver, an expert in car escapes. The Driver is also considered an unofficial adaptation of Melville’s Samurai.[230][231] Like Delon, O’Neal plays a character who speaks little, but whose actions and choices reveal an internal depth and complexity.[232][233][234][235]
- In Rocco and His Brothers, Delon plays the character of Rocco Parondi, a tormented young man, a street wrestler who has become famous and has a tumultuous career in an Italian family in the 40s. The film influenced a number of filmmakers, including Scorsese, who closely studied Visconti’s directing, especially the way the fight scenes are filmed, a technique he later integrated into his Raging Bull. In addition, Scorsese was inspired for this same film by the character of Rocco (Delon) to help shape Robert De Niro’s interpretation of Jake LaMotta.[236][237][238]
- Chow Yun-Fat, in John Woo’s film The Killer, not only takes on the role of Alain Delon in Le Samouraï but also portrays a character who dreams he is Alain Delon.[239]
- Tony Leung, in his role as the undercover inspector in Hard Boiled, uses similar traits to those of Delon in The Samurai.[240] The character mentioned is named after Alain Delon : his name is Alan. Alan is a cold and contemplative police officer, caught between his conflicting loyalties and condemned to a life of solitude. Like Costello (Alain Delon in The Samurai), he finds refuge in an isolated existence, living on his boat, far from the tumult of the criminal life to which he is inextricably linked.[241][242]
- The idea for the costumes for Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction came from a discussion between Tarantino and costume designer Betsy Heimann about French film noir with Alain Delon. She says, “We went to a Denny’s and talked about the film visually, and then we went to his house and he showed me a lot of French film noir, a lot of Alain Delon. I said, ‘Well, all these guys are in suits.’ And we’re talking about guys who just got out of jail and want to remain anonymous. What can they do? They could go to a thrift store, buy a black suit, a white shirt, and a tie, and they could afford it. Quentin really liked the idea.”[243]
- In the film Heat, directed by Michael Mann, the character of Neil McCauley, played by Robert De Niro, embodies a quiet and reserved anti-hero, inspired by the minimalist and detached style associated with Delon. McCauley’s character, with his rigorous discipline and unflappable attitude, is reminiscent of Jef Costello in The Samurai. Like Delon, De Niro navigates between different emotional states, while maintaining a feline and mineral presence on screen. In his production, Mann was inspired by Jean Pierre Melville (The Samurai, The Red Circle) and deals with the theme of loneliness and isolation in male characters.[244][245][246][247]
- John Frankenheimer‘s film Ronin, released in 1998, evokes an atmosphere that is strongly reminiscent of the classics and thrillers of French cinema, notably through the influence of Alain Delon and his role in Jean-Pierre Melville‘s Le Samouraï.[248] In this film, Delon plays a lonely hitman, wrapped in a grey coat and evolving in a dark and rainy Paris. This aesthetic and character resonates strongly in Ronin, where Robert De Niro, dressed in a similar trench coat, inevitably recalls Delon.[249] In addition, Sam is portrayed as a cold and methodical professional, just like the role played by Delon in 1967. Also, the wet streets, the grey skies and the scenes in Parisian cafés are reminiscent of the works of Melville and the performances of his favourite actor Alain Delon in The Red Circle and A Cop.[250]
- Forest Whitaker was inspired by the role of Jef Costello (played by Alain Delon in The Samurai) for Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai by Jim Jarmusch. “As a preparation, I watched this masterpiece with Alain Delon. Thanks to him, I understood the virtue of silence. Sometimes you make your voice heard better by not saying anything at all! I don’t know if I’m a samurai, if I’d be able to die too rather than betray my convictions, but this role helped me to focus, to calm down”.[251][252][253] Like Alain Delon’s killer in The Samurai (the film’s most obvious influence), the man named Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) works alone, adhering to a strict personal code.[254] The ending also openly gives a nod to the samurai, in which Alain Delon, like Ghost Dog, carries an unloaded gun in a circumstance that he knows will prove fatal.[255]
- Johnnie To, in his film Fulltime Killer, borrows heavily from the styles of John Woo, Takashi Miike, Tsui Hark. In her works, there are also recurring tributes to the minimalist aesthetic of Melville and other French films: “The film refers to Alain Delon’s films, and there is a video saleswoman who talks about what she likes to praise as a genre of films. I put them in the film to show that it’s something we seem to know or have seen but it’s not real. ».[256][257] To seeks to immerse viewers in a recognizable universe, a world where cultural references serve as bridges to an intuitive but deliberately unrealistic understanding.
- To prepare for the role of Vincent in Collateral, Tom Cruise “first watched a few movies about professional killers, including Jean-Pierre Melville’s The Samurai’starring Alain Delon. I was very fascinated by his solitary and melancholic charisma in carrying out his cruel affairs.”. Cruise’s appearance and character in the American film are also reminiscent of Jef Costello’s character in The Samurai.[258][259][260]
- In The Samurai, Delon plays Jef Costello, a methodical and solitary hitman, whose life is governed by a strict code and a relentless routine.[261] In The Limits of Control, Jim Jarmusch pays homage to this iconography by creating the character of the Lone Man, played by Isaach De Bankolé.[262] In many ways, the Lone Man is a modern reincarnation of Jef Costello. He is also a man of few words, carrying out his missions with clinical precision, while maintaining an emotional detachment. The Lone Man, like Costello, is often shown in impeccable costume, traversing urban and rural landscapes with an eerie serenity.[263] Jarmusch, creating an atmosphere of suspense and contemplation, is more generally inspired by the work of Melville.[264][265]
- In the comedy You Shoot, I Shoot by Pang Ho-Cheung, Eric Kot portrays a hitman who idolizes Jef Costello, dressing like the character and speaking to Costello through a poster of the French film in his apartment.[266]
- Kim Jee-Woon, director of A Bittersweet Life, asked lead actor Lee Byung Hun to take inspiration from Delon’s performances in Jean-Pierre Melville’s films: “I told him to play like Alain Delon. There was a lot of talk about Alain Delon during filming, because the character he plays in Jean-Pierre Melville’s films is of course very intelligent and impressively composed, but there is also something delicate about him, an unsettling vulnerability. I’ve always been convinced that Alain Delon played these roles wonderfully, so I talked a lot about him to my lead actor.“.[267] The hero of A Bittersweet Life, named after Costello “Jeff” is indeed a direct descendant of Jef Costello who has the same characteristics of the betrayed lone killer.[268][269]
- Hong Kong director Johnnie To is a great admirer of Melville and his films The Red Circle and The Samurai. To has also often mentioned his desire to work with Alain Delon and had initially considered giving him the lead role in Vengeance.[270] Vengeance is therefore an obvious tribute to Melville’s universe and features a father who has come to Hong Kong to avenge his daughter who is the victim of hitmen.[271] The character of Francis Costello (a name directly borrowed from Jeff Costello’s in Le Samouraï played by Alain Delon in 1967) was finally played by Johnny Hallyday.[272][273]
- In Anton Corbijn‘s The American, George Clooney portrays a solitary, calm, and meticulous hitman, devoid of emotion and reminiscent of the role played by Delon in 1967.[274][275][276]
- In addition, Delon’s influence can also be seen in films such as Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Drive and Edgar Wright‘s Baby Driver. Both inspired by The Samurai of Melville, they feature the protagonists – played by Ryan Gosling and Ansel Elgort respectively – as taciturn and charismatic flight drivers, reminiscent of the character of Jef Costello.[277][278] Ryan Gosling says that he was inspired for his acting by Delon’s performances in The Samurai and Purple Noon.[279]
- In the development of The Equalizer film franchise, director Antoine Fuqua claims that Delon influenced the development of the main character of Robert McCall, a lonely man with strong moral motivations, acting as a vigilante for those who cannot stand up for themselves, played by Denzel Washington: “My biggest inspirations were the foreign films of the ’70s, really […] And of course, all of Alain Delon’s films, French films in particular, like The Samurai (1967), with that kind of slow pace and character development as it unfolds. These are the kinds of films that inspire me.”[280][281]
- South Korean actor Jung Woo Sung also drew inspiration from Alain Delon’s performance in Le Samouraï for his first role as a criminal in Cold Eyes.[282]
- The Kazakh film Yellow Cat, directed by Adilkhan Erjanov, reflects a multitude of cinematic influences, including the classicism of Melville’s films.[283] Yellow Cat also features a solitary character, wandering through the Kazakh plains and sporting Alain Delon’s trench coat and fedora from Le Samouraï.[284] The character considers himself a talent: that of imitating Alain Delon, imagining himself to be the French actor.
- Michael Fassbender drew inspiration from Alain Delon’s character in Le Samouraï for his role in David Fincher’s film The Killer.[285]
- Keanu Reeves, in John Wick: Chapter 4, portrays a formidable hitman but with a certain emotional depth, imitating Alain Delon, whom Reeves idolizes. Chad Stahelski, the director of the franchise, drew inspiration from Delon’s interpretations in Melville’s films: “The ‘John Wick’ films are all love letters from Keanu, myself, our stunt team, and our creative team to everyone, from Wong Kar-wai to Sammo Hung, to Sergio Leone, Kurosawa, Alain Delon and ‘Le Samouraï’, Spielberg, Tarantino… To all those people we loved growing up.”[286][287]