best film: Rocco and His Brothers. I only have seven total films in the archives for Delon but look at them- they’re all so damn good. Antonioni’s The Eclipse is a fabulous film and it might be his fifth best. That’s unreal. Rocco has flirted with the last 10 spots in my top 100 so that’s my #1 here for this category but I’ve yet to see The Leopard on Blu-ray (I’m told it’s something to behold) and Le Samourai and Purple Noon are superb films- very worth of being in a top 5 of their respective years.
best performance: Purple Noon. Delon does Tom Ripley and he’s marvelous. He’s expressive (unlike Le Samourai which is my second pick here and his quietest performance), fascinating, hauntingly infatuated and fixated. I think a hell of a lot of Matt Damon’s performance taking on the same role in The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1999 but I think I’d have to give the slight edge to Delon here.
stylistic innovations/traits: Incredibly good-looking French actor who excelled during the French new wave without working with the new wave auteurs (something I just realized today). His looks faded in the 70’s which must be the main reason all seven of his archiveable films came between 1960-1972 (he has 107 IMDB credits). His lack of depth is made up for with the unreal high-quality of those seven films and he’s the lead in all of them (co-ish lead in the leopard).
directors worked with: Melville (3), Visconti (2), and then Antonioni once—again- given he was at the height of his powers from 1960-1972 it’s surprising he never connected for an archiveable film with Truffaut or Godard.
Top 5 Performances:
- Purple Noon
- Le Samourai
- Rocco and His Brothers
- The Leopard
- The Eclipse
Archiveable films
| 1960- Purple Noon |
| 1960- Rocco and His Brothers |
| 1962- The Eclipse |
| 1963- The Leopard |
| 1967- Le Samourai |
| 1970- The Red Circle |
| 1972- Un Flic |
Interesting fact was that he was in contention for the Omar Sharif role in Lawrence of Arabia, but turned it down because he didn’t want to wear contacts for the duration of filming. What a what-if scenario that would be. Do you think he would get the role of Doctor Zhivago? And you could also tack on the role of Clyde Barrow in Truffaut’s version of Bonnie and Clyde (Karina maybe as Bonnie and Belmondo in the Hackman role?). Just a few thoughts.
@Zane- That is interesting- I wonder if he would’ve been able to do L’Eclisse if he had taken Lawrence of Arabia. I think Lawrence was a very long shoot. I like the way it all turned out– but I’d sign up to watch a version of Bonnie and Clyde and Zhivago with Delon. Lawrence of Arabia? Not so much. I’m glad he didn’t get that one.
@Drake He actually worked with Godard(played the lead) in a film called Nouvelle vague(1990) which is ranked #691 on the TSPDT all time list.
It’s not currently in the archives as we speak; only 2 post-1967 Godard films have been entered into the archives so far, and while this isn’t one of them, I guess we’ll see if it gets entered sometime this year.
@Malith- correct, but the comment is “given he was at the height of his powers from 1960-1972 it’s surprising he never connected for an archiveable film with Truffaut or Godard.”. Nouvelle vague is not in the archives.
@Drake Haven’t you seen Mr. Klein(1976) directed by Joseph Losey(The Go-Between) starring Alain Delon in the lead? Has a perfect 100 on RT.
@Malith- I have not
@Malith- it sounds amazing
I think No. 62 is too high for Alain Delon. I like him, but his filmography isn’t very strong and is actually very limited for someone who is ranked the 62nd best actor of all time on this list (you don’t even have screen legends like Gregory Peck and Spencer Tracy, who have won Oscars and have much stronger bodies of work, in the Top 100). I realize these types of lists are highly subjective, but I’ve always felt that Delon was more style over substance and that he was known for only for a few or handful of performances. He had a large international following when he was younger due to his looks, but he started losing his looks in his 30s, which is very early for a leading man. Once his looks faded, his career declined. He was not the kind of actor that people got to see aging and turning in great performances at various stages of his career and life. Most fans of his remember him mainly for what he looked like in his 20s and don’t even seem to know about any of the films he made after the early 1970s.
@Shanie- thanks for the comment. I’ll let others add if they want to but I address everything here (including his looks fading in the 1970’s) on the page. This isn’t a list of the most handsome actors (I just mention this because it seems to be brought up in most of your comments so far). Peck and Tracy are a different story. Both had great, long careers. I don’t begrudge someone wanting to include them on the list. Tracy just wasn’t in enough good films- I regret he didn’t work with more auteurs. And Peck- well- just not a crazy talented actor (I don’t think Delon was either necessarily)- through all the years only in 1962 do I think he has an argument for being one of the best. And you really need two years worth of mentioning (like Delon- who really has three) to make the top 100 list.
But unlike Peck or Spencer Tracy Malcolm McDowell gives the best performance of 1971 and one of the best performances of all time in A Clockwork Orange.He should be included in the top 100(like Falconetti on the female side)
I wish I lost my looks in my thirties like Delon…
@Stephen E- haha amazing comment- you and me both.
He worked with Melville 3 times. Le Cercle Rouge, Un Flic and Le Samourai.
@Malith- thank you!
Red Sun(1971) page have the same issue. No text.
@Malith- you’re my hero- thank you
Mr. Klein is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel in case you are interested, I found that today.
@Zane- I actually just put that on my list here (which never seems to shrink). Thank you for the heads up.
I posted about it on the 1976 page and I see Zane mentioned it above; jMr. Klein is a major work for Delon. I actually just watched it twice in a row (I don’t do that often). I think it is a possible MP and Delon gives quite a performance in a Kafka-esque environment similar to Polanski’s The Tenant (1976) which also came out the same year.
@James Trapp- Thank you- I hope to remedy this blind spot soon
Drake,
Have you seen La Piscine? It’s a 1969 Psychological thriller directed by Jacques Deray.
I noticed it on Criterion Channel, considering watching.
I watched it
Maurice Ronet is back with Delon 9 years after Purple Noon. There’s a similar dymanic here with Ronet
playing another smug character who looks down on Delon’s character while acting like his friend. I was expecting a sort of erotic thriller and it seems to be going that way in the first 20 minutes or so but ends up playing like a more slow burn thriller, albeit with a lot of very good looking people. Definitely enough for a R in my opinion. Delon is very solid here, nothing really new from him which is fine as he’s sticking with his strengths; cool, calm, and collected demeanor while looking like…well Alain Delon lol.
@James Trapp- I have not caught this one as of it. I have it sitting here in my criterion queue though.
My top 10 of his performances :
1 – Plein Soleil (1960, Rene Clément)
2 – Le Samouraï (1967, Jean-Pierre Melville)
3 – Rocco et ses frères (1960, Luchino Visconti)
4 – L’Eclipse (1962, Michelangelo Antonioni)
5 – Mélodie en sous-sol (1963, Henri Verneuil)
6 – Monsieur Klein (1976, Joseph Losey)
7 – Le Cercle Rouge (1970, Jean-Pierre Melville)
8 – Le Clan des Siciliens (1969, Henri Verneuil)
9 – Le Guépard (1963, Luchino Visconti)
10 – La Piscine (1968, Jacques Deray)
Hey @Drake,
You said that you recently watching Mr. Klein for the first time. What grade did you allot to it?
@M*A*S*H- Semi-recently now. I saw it last summer. I have it with a HR placeholder- excited to get a second viewing in.