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Le Pacha

Le Pacha

Movie · 1968 · 4 people

Le Pacha (released in English as Pasha) reached screens in 1968 as a French-Italian crime film. Director Georges Lautner, a specialist in action-heavy gangster films, wrote the screenplay with Michel Audiard and Albert Simonin. It is based on the novel Pouce! by Jean Laborde. In Germany it is known as Der Bulle and in Spanish-speaking countries as Inspector Joss and in Greece as I megali listeia tou San Elyze. Jean Gabin and Dany Carrel share the leading roles.

The story follows Joss, a senior Paris police commissioner played by Jean Gabin, nicknamed "le Pacha" and close to retirement. The death of his colleague Albert Gouvion is explained as an accident, but Joss does not believe it. Convinced his friend was murdered, he sets out to avenge him, and as the investigation advances he finds himself in the underworld, on the trail of a ruthless killer. Dany Carrel plays Nathalie Villar, Jean Gaven plays Marc and André Pousse plays Quinquin.

Filming began on November 14, 1967 and ended in December of that year; the film was released on March 14, 1968. The cast also includes Louis Seigner, Maurice Garrel, Robert Dalban and Serge Gainsbourg. The running time is 82 minutes.

DirectorGeorges Lautner
Production companyGaumont Yapımevi

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Cast

Only cast members with a profile on this site are listed.

Robert Dalban Robert Dalban Actor · died at 83 Dominique Zardi Actor · died at 79 Henri Attal Henri Attal Actor · died at 67 Michel Charrel Michel Charrel Film actor · died at 89

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Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Le Pacha pairs Georges Lautner's flair for gangster cinema with a script he co-wrote with Michel Audiard and Albert Simonin. Jean Gabin's near-retirement inspector carries the genre's weary-hero figure with dignified restraint. A cop who refuses to accept his colleague's death as an accident turns the investigation into a moral reckoning rather than a legal duty. The story's skeleton, though, is familiar from many crime films of the era; the revenge motif follows a formula more than it springs surprises. The tight 82-minute running time is an asset in the editing, but it leaves little room for the characters to deepen. Spotting Serge Gainsbourg in the cast is a nice nod to the pop culture of the time.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

An inspector close to retirement, a murdered colleague and a ruthless killer: Le Pacha is a revenge cop thriller through and through. At 82 minutes it does not hang around, and the investigation soon drops into the underworld. Jean Gabin's hard, weary presence gives the film weight. Do not expect the pace of today's action films, but for 1968 the tension is pitched just right.

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

For anyone who loves old cinema, Jean Gabin is a reason in himself. In Le Pacha he plays a tired but stubborn inspector close to retirement, and the loyalty of a man who will not accept his friend's death as an accident is the heart of the film. The themes of friendship and revenge we loved in Yeşilçam crime films appear here too, only in a cooler, gloomier French register. The harshness of the underworld was a little too much for me at times, but that age-old clash between loyalty and justice grips viewers in any era.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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