Le Samouraï · reception & legacy

How Le Samouraï has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A hit in France on release but mangled abroad — the US didn't see it until 1972, cut and retitled 'The Godson' to ride the Coppola wave. Its restoration and 1997 US re-release turned it into a canonical object, and its reputation has only climbed since.

What's debated

The perennial fan debate: is it the coolest movie ever made or an exquisite exercise in style over substance — hypnotic minimalism to some, 'nothing happens, beautifully' to others.

Its footprint

Its DNA is everywhere: John Woo's The Killer, Jarmusch's Ghost Dog, and Drive all descend from it, and Delon in trench coat and fedora adjusting his hat brim in the mirror remains one of cinema's most imitated images. Woo has called it the closest thing to a perfect film.

Where it stands

A cinephile rite of passage and Letterboxd darling — the definitive 'cool cinema' touchstone that launches a thousand hitman-movie comparisons.

Named by the director

Influences Jean-Pierre Melville has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

• This Gun for Hire (1942) — Melville acknowledged modelling Jef Costello's impassive trench-coated killer on Alan Ladd's hitman Philip Raven.