French Crime Films of the 1970s

The 1970s were a pivotal decade for thrillers in French cinema and crime films (also known as "polars") in particular. The genre reached its commercial peak with box-office hits like Borsalino and Le Cercle rouge, starring the country's top stars, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon. Key works appeared from renowned auteurs such as Jean-Pierre Melville, Henri Verneuil, Rene Clement, and Claude Lelouch, and emerging young filmmakers (Yves Boisset, Philippe Labro, Alain Corneau, and Serge Leroy, among others) strove for the efficiency and visual dynamism of American cinema while often employing the crime genre as a tool for a more nuanced discourse, depicting a nation in the throes of urban mutation and undergoing key political changes.This book details all of the crime thrillers produced and released in France from 1970 to 1979, with a detailed production history and critical analysis of each title, placing them within the social and political context of postwar French culture, politics and cinema. It includes never-before-seen bits of information taken from French archives.