Le Professionnel

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Le Professionnel
Directed by Georges Lautner
Produced by Alain Belmondo
Written by Michel Audiard
Georges Lautner
Patrick Alexander (novel)
Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo
Jean Desailly
Robert Hossein
Music by Ennio Morricone
Cinematography Henri Decaë
Editing by Michelle David
Release dates 21 October 1981
Running time 109 minutes
Language French

Le Professionnel (French pronunciation: ​[lə pʁɔ.fɛ.sjɔ'nɛl] ; French for The Professional) is a 1981 French action thriller film directed by French director Georges Lautner, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Desailly and Robert Hossein, based on the award-winning 1976 novel Death of a Thin-Skinned Animal by Patrick Alexander.

The music is composed by Ennio Morricone and the theme music "Chi Mai" is known worldwide.

Plot

The French secret agent Josselin Beaumont is sent to Malagawi, a fictional African country, to kill the ruling dictator, the colonel Njala. However, before he manages accomplish his mission, the political situation changes drastically and the French secret service resorts to handing over Beaumont to the Malagawian authorities. After a long and unfair trial, during which Beaumont is injected drugs, he is sentenced to long-term penal servitude at a "re-education camp". After a daring escape with one of the inmates, he returns to France and informs the French secret service of his presence, promising that he will kill Njala, who is in France for an official visit, thus getting his revenge on the people who betrayed him. The secret service responds by setting other agents on Beaumont's trail, however he manages to remain one step ahead, humiliating and killing some of the major betrayers, including the sadistic chief of the secret police Rosen.

After Rosen, the police chief, falls in a gunfight, Beaumont switches their identity cards, spreading confusion within the secret service and temporarily reducing Njala's guard. Beaumont eventually gets Njala killed, by tricking the secret service agents into mistakenly shooting the dictator. As he finally tries to leave the scene, while government officials postulate what to do by conferring with higher authorities, he slowly walks towards the helicopter of the presidential whore, and is shot dead by the French government agents, who in the meantime, have received the order to do so.

Cast

See also

External links

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