... as they say in France when they find something excellent. In one sense this is a natural successor to the gangster/buddy movies that paired Jean Gabin with Lino Ventura in the fifties but with a tad of English for good measure. It's a Marseilles that Marcel Pagnol chose to ignore, a city filled with hookers, pimps, and gangsters rather than Frank Capra salts of the earth, a city in which - at the time it was set - a nine-year old Yves Montand was growing up and it's a nice touch to throw in a mention of the Alcazar, the Music Hall where Montand played in his first years in the business. Beginning as petty crooks and rivals coming to blows over a woman Delon and Belmondo not only bond but join forces and gradually rise through the ranks until they are running organised crime in the city. It's a fine blend of drama and comedy with a 'Sting' type theme tune that puts one in mind of Newman and Redford, another great team. Well worth seeking out.

Borsalino tells the rise and fall of two small-time crooks in 1930 Marseille. Their rivalry soon becomes a strong friendship, allowing them to reach a place in the sun among other gangsters, even threatening the truce between the two ruthless families that control the city.

Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon shine in this enjoyable recreation of the ever-corrupted French city. The sets and costumes are terrific, and the music by Claude Bolling became an instant classic. So classic in fact that the director Jacques Deray over-uses it in some parts. The secondary characters are interesting somewhat but clearly overshadowed by the two leads. As for the script, it manages many enjoyable moments wandering between funny and tragic bits, however it is too hammy to totally convince and is not helped by a very dated type of editing. I don't know if it was to mimic the style of older gangster movies, but the movie should've been tighter on that point.

All in all, a very decent French movie. Far from flawless, but recommended.

I liked this film and became a Belmondo and Delon fan because of it. The story fosters traditional friendship values : Loyalty , affection , and it underwrites pursuit of dreams.

All production values are a little over dramatic , which worked for me given the slightly hammy machismo of the stars. These guys looked like they really are friends off-screen and maybe had a lot of fun making the film. They are a couple of real characters and it shows through. They're better at playing themselves than at acting

Interesting sepia stills for credit backgrounds which predate Butch Cassidy's use of them as nostalgia evocation.

Somewhat typical of foreign films of the period , the continuity was sometimes uneven . But that wasn't particularly disruptive because of the un-complex story line.