Specialty CollectionGenre: FOREIGN FILMS
Description: FRENCH FILM. DUBBED & LETTERBOXED. CHARLES AZNAVOUR, MARIE DUBOIS, NICOLE BERGER, MICHELE MERCIER, ALBERT REMY, JACQUES ASLANIAN, RICHARD KANAYAN, CLAUDE MANSARD, DANIEL BOULANGER, SERGE DAVI, CLAUDE HEYMANN, ALEX JOFFE, BOBY LAPOINTE, CATHERINE LUTZ, DIRECTED BY FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT. CRIME DRAMA. HOMAGE TO HOLLYWOOD'S GANGSTER FILMS. A CAFE PIANO PLAYER HAS GIVEN UP HIS LIFE AS A FAMED CONCERT PIANIST AND CHANGES HIS NAME. ONE EVENING AT THE CLUB, HE IS VISITED BY A GANGSTER WHO IS ON THE RUN FROM A COUPLE OF THUGS HE AND HIS BROTHER DOUBLE CROSSED. HE HELPS HIS BROTHER GET AWAY BUT IN THE PROCESS GETS MIXED UP WITH THE GANSTERS. HE NOW FEARS FOR HIS OWN SAFETY AND THAT OF HIS YOUNGER BROTHER WITH WHOM HE LIVES. AFTER HIS EVENTFUL NIGHT HE WALKS HOME WITH DU BOIS. HE BECOMES INFATUATED WITH HER, BUT CANNOT SUMMON UP THE COURAGE TO HOLD HER HAND. HE RETURNS TO HIS OWN APARTMENT & SPENDS THE NIGHT WITH A FRIENDLY PROSTITUTE WHO LIVES ACROSS THE HALL & CARES FOR HIS YOUNGER BROTHER. THEIR APARTMENT IS BEING STAKED OUT BY THE GANGSTERS WHO BUNGLE ON EARLY MORNING ATTEMPT TO KIDNAP THE BROTHER WHILE HE IS ON HIS WAY TO SCHOOL. THE TWO HOODLUMS DO HOWEVER SUCCEED IN ABDUCTING THE PIANO PLAYER & DUBOIS. ALTHOUGH THEY CARRY GUNS AND LOOK THREATENING THEY ACTUALLY SEEM TO BE A FRIENDLY, JOVIAL PAIR. THEY TALK ABOUT THEIR LOVE FOR WOMEN AND ONE EVEN ADMITS THAT HE ONCE TRIED ON A PAIR OF HIS SISTER'S SILK PANTIES. THE TWO EASILY ESCAPE FROM THEIR CAPTORS WHEN THE DRIVER GETS PULLED OVER FOR RUNNING A RED LIGHT. DUBOIS OFFERS TO HIDE THE PIANO PLAYER IN HER APARTMENT, ONE WALL OF WHICH IS COVERED BY A POSTER FOR AN EDOUARD SAROYAN CONCERT APPEARANCE. IN A FLASHBACK, HE EXPLAINS WHY HE LEFT HIS OTHER LIFE BEHIND. HIS HAPPY IMAGE BEGAN TO DISSOLVE AS HE BECAME A GREAT SUCCESS. HE CARED MORE FOR HIS PIANO THAN HE DID FOR HIS WIFE. ONE AFTERNOON HIS WIFE ADMITTED THAT SHE SLEPT WITH THE CLASSICAL IMPRESSARIO, HEYMANN, TO INSURE THAT HER HUSBAND GOT HIS BIG BREAK. UPON HEARING THIS, HE ASSUMES THE ROLE OF TOUGH GUY & WALKS OUT ON HIS WIFE, AGAINST HIS BETTER JUDGMENT. HE SUDDENLY DECIDES TO RUN BACK TO HER, ONLY TO FIND THAT SHE HAS JUST JUMPED TO HER DEATH FROM A WINDOW. AFTER REMINISCING, THE PIANO PLAYER AND DUBOIS SLEEP TOGETHER. WHEN HE RETURNS TO HIS FLAT HE LEARNS THAT HIS YOUNGER BROTHER HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED. ON DUBOIS' URGING, HE ACCOMPANIES HER TO THEIR CLUB WHERE THEY BOTH PLAN TO QUIT. DUBOIS GETS INTO A FIGHT WITH THE OWNER WHO SOLD THE PIANO PLAYER'S ADDRESS TO THE GANGSTERS. THE PIANO PLAYER IGNORES THEIR ARGUMENT AND SITS AT THE PIANO TO PLAY. THE OWNER, JEALOUS OF THE PIANO PLAYER, PICKS A FIGHT. A STRUGGLE ENSUES AND THE PIANO PLAYER ACCIDENTALLY (HE TRIES TO NICK HIS ENEMY'S ARM) STABS THE OWNER IN THE BACK. DUBOIS DRIVES HIM TO HIS BROTHER'S SNOW-COVERED MOUNTAIN HIDE-OUT IN ORDER TO ESCAPE THE POLICE. THE GANGSTER DISCOVERS THE HIDE-OUT & BRINGS THE YOUNGER BROTHER THERE WITH THEM. DUBOIS TRIES TO WARN HIM OF THEIR PRESENCE BUT GUNFIRE BREAKS OUT AND SHE GETS CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE. HER COLLAPSING BODY SLIDES DOWN A SNOWY SLOPE. WHILE THE GANGSTERS FINISH THEIR GUNPLAY, THE PIANO PLAYER RUSHES TO DUBOIS' SIDE AND WIPES SNOW FROM HER LIFELESS BODY. SOON AFTERWARDS HE IS BACK BEHIND HIS PIANO IN THE CLUB, PLAYING HIS HONKY-TONK RHYTHMS WHILE THE OWNER BREAKS IN DUBOIS' REPLACEMENT. OLD WOMAN DROPS TO FLOOR.
