This film is adapted from a Pierre Lesou's novel, the author of LE DOULOS, adapted by Jean-Pierre Melville in 62; one of his masterpieces. I read all Lesou's novels, I know them very well, and this novelist was the closest of them all to Melville's world. A world of cold, complex, and metaphysics friendship among gangsters. Cerebral atmospheres that most of Melville's fans - and there are many - know as well as I do. Yes, yes, yes, Melville SHOULD have done this film, HAIL MAFIA, it should have been a film for him. And certainly not for Raoul Levy. I won't say he is a lousy film maker. I think he did the best. But when I think of Melville when watching this film, I feel pain inside of me.In his movie, Levy shows us a short sequence of Brigitte Bardot dancing in one of her films: ET DIEU CREA LA FEMME. Levy committed suicide several months after his feature - HAIL MAFIA - because of his love for Bardot.A good film, as far as I can appreciate. It is very rare in France. I only got it from the USA.

If this film had been directed by Jean Pierre Melville, Criterion or someone else would have already have made a DVD special edition. It concerns two men, played by Henry Silva and Jack Klugman who travel to France to kill a man, a former gangster played by Eddie Constantine. They are sent to kill this man because they fear that he may testify and bring some underworld figures down. What happens on this journey is a story of fate, and some ironic twists.While the beginning of the film starts out kind of chessie, (the shots of New York) so we are to get the feeling that the scenes with the actors were filmed in New York. When the two men get to France, that is when the film really takes off. It is almost like a road picture, as they travel from Paris to Marseille, two Americans, who don't speak French traveling in a strange land, Country much more foreign then, than it would be today.Klugmans character has personal reasons why he wants to kill the character played by Constantine, while Silva, playing a guy called SHAFT, is only doing this job because it is his job. This film was based I believe on an American novel, and what is different here is that while usually in stories such as this the older man acts more the professional, while the younger is more carefree, HAIL MAFIA defies these conventions. Though Silva I believe is only 8 years younger than Klugman, he the younger man seems to live by codes, (he doesn't even smoke) and is the boss of the two, while Klugman seems to have the more easy going attitude, and not as careful. Their relationship is a very interesting on this road to a murder.I think that this film paved the way for Silva to get starting roles in Europe, and while it did not do that for Klugman, the film should be famous for his line regarding 'what would make a man quit smoking, Which he would have to do some 30 years latter due to throat cancer. The photography on the French scenes is first rate, filmed by the famous cinematographer of the New Wave, Raoul Coutard. Their are some other interesting touches, such as when Constantine's girl friend (I think his wife at the time) looks at a picture of John F Kennedy, and when she offers him a glass of Orange Juice, he says yes but with some Scotch (Constantine had a drinking problem).If this film were ever remade, and took place in the 21'st Century, one problem would be technology is a bit different than in 1965. I hope more people get to see this buried treasure.

Writer-director-producer Raoul Levy hit a home run with this moody, intelligent, very-well acted crime film. On the surface, the plot seems simple--mafia soldiers Henry Silva and Jack Klugman are on an assignment to kill a former mafia guy played by Eddie Constantine. But the story--and most of the film--is really about the relationship between Henry Silva's and Jack Klugman's characters, and both give brilliant performances. I would never have thought of this pair of actors together, but as well as I know each of their works, I saw only the two characters, real people, not the actors. Eddie Constantine is not in the film all that much--it's Klugman and Silva's movie. Raoul Levy is probably best known here in the US as the producer of five Bridget Bardot films and of the underrated THE DEFECTOR, the last movie of Montgomery Clift. The washed-out monochrome photography by Raoul Coutard, the brilliant jazz score by Hubert Rostaing, and Levy's intelligent, literate script all come together in a powerful film that will pack an unexpected wallop for those expecting just another euro-crime film. No wonder Henry Silva's european career took off right after this film. The existential plot could easily have been from a spaghetti western or a samurai film, and anyone who has ever considered those genres (and the euro-crime film) as metaphors for life and society should find a copy of this film as soon as possible. For me, one of the five best European-made crime films of the 1960's, and I've seen hundreds of them.

Henry Silva and Jack Klugman are hit men sent to France to kill Eddie Constantine. The two spend time on the road getting to know each other and their very different styles of life. Silva is a meticulous person with very definite ideas about his approach to his profession while Klugman is more easy going and less philosophical. This small movie boasts not only the talents of the principal actors but also high-contrast black and white photography that gives it a very new wave film noir look as the boys in their black suits and skinny ties wander around in the Paris night. The French countryside is captured in washed out tones that emphasize how far out of the water these two fish are at the moment. The jazz score for the film is excellent small combo stuff that perfectly matches the stark images. There's also a couple of nice twists in the plot and a dandy downbeat ending. This is a genuine undiscovered gem and you won't be sorry you took a chance on it.