Razzia sur la Chnouf

Gabin is an underworld enforcer, hired by drug lord Dalio to streamline his organisation and weed out unreliable elements. With back-up from equivocal hitmen Ventura and Rémy, the job is accomplished with maximum ruthlessness. But the hitmen rightly suspect that Gabin is playing a double game and few of the cast are still standing after the climax. This comparatively obscure example of '50s-style gangsterism in the hardboiled French manner testifies to the vitality of that whole group of movies. The somewhat self-conscious brutality is mitigated by the authority of Gabin, whose underplaying is a treat to watch. Razzia sur la Chnouf ('Drugs Raid') was called Razzia in the US and Chnouf in the UK. Go figure.