The Loner

Police Superintendent Stan Jalard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a disillusioned policeman about to retire to a Caribbean island with his best friend and colleague Simon (Michel Creton). But when Simon is brutally gunned down by psychopath Charly Schneider (Jean-Pierre Malo) Jalard remains with the force with the aim of finding and arresting Schneider. His methods are unorthodox, and he is not above beating and framing possible leads, which results in obstruction and conflict with Commissioner Pezzoli (Michel Beaune). But Jalard is determined and with the help of his team he trolls through Schneider´s underworld acquaintances and contacts until it becomes an all-out war that only one of them can win. Part of the reason was that by 1987 Belmondo was getting a bit old and grizzled to play dashing, romantic action heroes and, indeed, the French movie-going public were seemingly tiring of the crime thriller genre. As well, Belmondo, who prided himself on doing his own stunts, had suffered an injury in an earlier film and Deray made the decision to limit the action stunts in The Loner. This slower pace in actually allows Belmondo more room to develop a far more interesting and subtle character than the one he played in Le marginal. The Loner, after which Belmondo Gave up films to return to a succesful stage career, is a well-structured, well-acted, police drama with plenty of interesting characters and situations, plus the charisma and charm of Jean-Paul Belmondo. (official distributor synopsis)