Borsalino & Co. Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Borsalino & Co. Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 22, 2014

Jacques Deray's "Borsalino and Co." (1974) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Pathe. The supplemental features on the disc include an original French trailer for the film and the documentary film "Borsalino & Co: Les Retrouvailles". In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Surprised to see me?

Borsalino and Co. opens up with François Capella’s funeral. (Capella, played by the great Jean-Paul Belmondo, gets killed at the end of Borsalino, which Jacques Deray completed four years before Borsalino and Co.). When Capella is laid to rest, his partner, Roch Siffredi (Alain Delon, Le Samouraï), vows to find his killers and punish them.

Soon after, Roch is informed that the man responsible for Capella’s murder is on a train heading to Marseille. Accompanied by a few of his best men, Roch gets on the train and quickly executes him.

The dead man’s brother, Volpone (Riccardo Cucciolla, Sacco e Vanzetti, Rabid Dogs), a powerful Italian gangster who controls many of the Marseille’s most important officials, immediately declares war on Roch. Then Volpone’s men detonate a bomb inside Roch’s club and throw acid in the face of one of his most beautiful courtesans. The outraged Roch decides to fight back, but his gang is destroyed. Only Roch and one of his most loyal men, Fernand (Lionel Vitrant, Le Gang), survive the carnage.

Roch is placed in a mental institution (so that he can suffer even more), while Fernand is tortured and thrown in the ocean.

Meanwhile, Volpone announces to his trusted associates that he is going to collapse Marseille and prepare it for the arrival of his German partners. He will do it by making sure that everyone becomes addicted to the pure heroin that has been created in one of his secret labs. The plan is put on hold when Volpone is informed that someone has helped Roch escape from the mental institution.

Familiarity with Deray’s Borsalino is not necessary to enjoy Borsalino and Co. Indeed, Roch’s relationship with his dead partner is used only to validate his bloody confrontation with Volpone.

The film is far from original -- and the same can be said about Borsalino as well -- but it is very stylish and sleek. The outstanding decors, the excellent clothing, and the fantastic cars seen in it create a period atmosphere that very much reminds of that present in Jean-Pierre Melville’s color films (Le Cercle Rouge and Un Flic). The tone of the film, however, is very different. The key reason why has to do with the fact that the precision with which crimes are committed in Melville’s films is essentially replaced with the casualness that was prominent in the gangster films James Cagney appeared in during the 1940s.

Delon is clearly the star of the film. He looks remarkably elegant in his period suits and the camera simply can’t get enough of him. With the exception of Vitrant, who truly comes alive during the second half, the supporting actors are largely forgeable.

Borsalino and Co. was lensed by Jean-Jacques Tarbes, who collaborated with Deray on a number of different films, including Borsalino, La Piscine, and the excellent Flic Story. (Tarbes’ best work, however, was with ex-prisoner turned writer-director Jose Giovanni on Two Men in Town and The Gypsy).

Borsalino & Co. Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jacques Deray's Borsalino and Co. arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Pathe.

Restored in 2K by Pathe in 2013, Borsalino and Co. looks very beautiful on Blu-ray. I did a number of comparisons with my R1 DVD release of the film and can confirm that there are dramatic improvements in every single area we typically address in our reviews. Image depth is particularly impressive -- the darker footage from the night club is now completely free of macroblocking, while the daylight isn't plagued by edge enhancement. There is a wider range of nuanced colors which have excellent organic qualities. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening corrections. Rather predictably, from start to finish the film has a very convincing organic appearance. Finally, there are no debris, scratches, debris, cuts, or stains to report in this review. All in all, this is a fabulous presentation of Borsalino and Co. that eliminates all of the technical issues that plagued the R1 DVD release of the film. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PA3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Borsalino & Co. Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Also included is a French Descriptive Audio DTS 2.0 track. For the record, Pathe have provided optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature.

The audio has obviously been remastered as the background hiss that is present on the lossy track from the R1 DVD has been eliminated. Depth and clarity are excellent. During the shootouts the dynamic intensity is also better. (Watch the shootout at the end of the film). The dialog is crisp, stable, clean, and very easy to follow. The English translation is excellent.

Borsalino & Co. Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Film annonce - original French trailer for Borsalino and Co. In French, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• Borsalino & Co: Les Retrouvailles - this new documentary features interviews with assistant director Philippe Lefebvre, film editor Henri Lanoe, writer Olivier Rajcheman, and Jacques Deray's widow, Agnes Vincent-Deray, as well as clips from archival interviews with the French director and raw footage from the shooting of the film. In French, not subtitled. (24 min, 1080p).

Borsalino & Co. Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Pathe's new 2K restoration of Jacques Deray's Borsalino and Co. is outstanding. If this happens to be one of your favorite period French gangster films, do not hesitate to upgrade your DVD release. The Blu-ray release is Region-Free and the main feature comes with excellent optional English subtitles. RECOMMENDED.