L'Alpagueur

L'Alpagueur (aka The Hunter Will Get You) is a film written and directed by Philippe Labro and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo in the title role and Bruno Cremer as L'Epervier.

Released in 1976 and considered as a typical French thriller from the 1970s, it is one of many Belmondo's movie where he is playing the title role. Like in Le Magnifique, L'Incorrigible or Le Marginal, Belmondo is the real star of the show, playing a solitary character and pursuing bad guys. The score from Michel Colombier is typical from this period, mixing piano, modern rhythms and brass instruments.

Plot
As one of the character is saying at the beginning of the movie:

''L'alpagueur c'est un chasseur de tête, c'est un mercenaire, un marginal. L'alpagueur c'est l'astuce qu'a trouvé un haut fonctionnaire pour passer au-dessus de la routine policière.''

The alpagueur is a head hunter, a mercenary, a marginal. The alpagueur is a trick made up by a state employee to be above the cop's routine.

Originally a deer hunter, l'Alpagueur became a head hunter working for the police, paid by them with money stolen from criminals. The main plot revolves around l'Alpagueur's pursuit of l'Épervier, (Sparrowhawk) a bank robber and an assassin, who kills whoever sees him commit a crime. His technique is to pay a young and naive man to be his accomplice and kill him right after. One of his accomplices, Costa Valdez, is only wounded during one of his hold ups, and with his help, l'Alpagueur manages to find l'Épervier at the end.

Cast

 * Jean-Paul Belmondo – Roger Pilard aka "l'Alpagueur"
 * Bruno Cremer – Gilbert aka "L'Epervier"
 * Claude Brosset – Granier
 * Patrick Fierry – Costa Valdes
 * Jean Négroni – Spitzer
 * Victor Garrivier – Inspector Doumecq
 * Jean-Pierre Jorris – Salicetti

Reception
The film was the 19th highest earning film of the year in France with 1,533,183 admissions.