Most reviews of the films Alain Delon made at his 1960s and ’70s peak mention either his beauty or his inscrutability. Very often they bring up both.
Despite his looks, the French star, who died on Sunday at 88, was not a typical leading man. He did not do romance and mostly avoided the relationship dramas so popular in his home country, even though he won his single César Award for one, “Notre Histoire” (1984). For the most part, Delon steered clear of lighthearted fare — the over-the-top spaghetti swashbuckler “Zorro” (1975) is one of the few such outliers. Instead, Delon will forever remain associated with the bleak thrillers and noirs he focused on after the mid-1960s. Sometimes he played the cop, other times the criminal. Always he looked as if he was withholding something — as an actor, he was never afraid of silence.
Luckily, a large number of Delon classics are available to stream. Here are 10 of the best ones, in chronological order.
Has there ever been a more handsome, conscience-free psychopath than Delon’s Tom Ripley? The actor was 25 when his breakthrough hit came out, in 1960, and his magnetism made the character’s dangerous pull on men and women completely inevitable. Delon is a major reason this film remains one of the best Patricia Highsmith adaptations ever, and his youthful cockiness and lethal charm continue to burn the screen.
‘Rocco and His Brothers’
Stream it on the Criterion Channel, Metrograph at Home, Ovid and Kino Film Collection.
The same year as the color-drenched “Purple Noon,” Delon starred in the Italian director Luchino Visconti’s inky take on Greek tragedy. You might argue that the film, in which Delon plays one of five sons (albeit the title one), is more of an ensemble piece. But he expresses a rare vulnerability and tenderness that makes “Rocco and His Brothers” — one of European cinema’s all-time greats — worthy of inclusion here. Although he is a kind soul who does not actually enjoy pummeling people, Rocco becomes a boxer. It’s a painful path that Delon fully commits to exploring.
Delon teamed up with Visconti again for another three-hour-long film, albeit a radically different one: Instead of black-and-white neorealism, this historical epic set in 19th-century Italy reveled in breathtaking colors and grandiose set pieces. Delon’s opportunistic character, Tancredi, smells the winds of change favoring the rising bourgeoisie, while his uncle (Burt Lancaster) embodies the waning aristocracy. Tancredi, who looks dashing even — especially — when wearing a black eye patch, is a ruthless seducer who knows full well that his class needs to adapt if it wants to survive. He is raffishly charismatic, and you can’t take your eyes off him.
‘Any Number Can Win’
Stream it on the Criterion Channel.
Delon and the French icon Jean Gabin attempt to pull off a daring heist in a Riviera casino in this entertaining, stylish action film orchestrated by the director Henri Verneuil in 1963. The two actors have a natural rapport that makes their May-September pairing feel organic, and Delon, best known as a master of silence, is surprisingly comfortable with Michel Audiard’s punchy dialogue. It’s a lot of fun to watch him play a lovable bad boy in a leather jacket, and at times he even gives out Gallic Steve McQueen vibes.
‘Once a Thief’
Rent or buy on most major platforms.
For his first lead role in an American movie, Delon chose well with a kinetic, jazzy noir that always operates in the red. He plays Eddie Pedak, a retired thief from Trieste whose no-good brother (Jack Palance) tries to get him back into a life of crime. Ann-Margret is fantastic as Eddie’s wife, and she and Delon — who had not yet put up the impassive shield he would become famous for — share sensual scenes that still smolder nearly 60 years after the movie came out. A sterling B movie that deserves to be better known.
‘Le Samouraï’
Stream it on the Criterion Channel or Max.
One of Delon’s most consequential encounters was with the director Jean-Pierre Melville. Their first collaboration, from 1967, firmly established the actor, here playing an enigmatic contract killer, as the undisputed king of stylish French noir. It also locked in his screen presence: taciturn, carved in granite, decked out in a fedora and a trench coat. The film’s gun-metal-gray palette and its obsessively meticulous direction create a chilling, coldblooded ambience, and Delon’s performance matches it. The second Delon-Melville film, “Le Cercle Rouge” (1970), is almost as good, and this time Delon has a terrific foil in Bourvil, a comic actor playing against type as the police inspector on our man’s tail. (The last Delon-Melville film, “A Cop,” is also the least, though still better than most thrillers.)
Nine years after “Purple Noon,” Delon and Maurice Ronet faced off again in this slow-burn by Jacques Deray (one of the star’s go-to directors). Delon and his former real-life girlfriend Romy Schneider burn up the screen as a couple lazing around their Provence pool during a sun-drenched vacation — the close-ups of their dewy, golden skin feel as if they’re going to torch the screen. The arrival of Ronet and his 18-year-old daughter (Jane Birkin) throw a wrench into the cozy arrangement: Three’s a crowd, four’s a French erotic thriller — luckily this was made years before the 1980s ruined that genre. Delon is opaque as ever, which only adds to his mystique.
‘Two Men in Town’
Rent or buy on Amazon.
In his latter years Delon became more famous for his far-right political opinions than for his acting, but he was a complicated man who stood by progressive-minded projects as a producer. Chief among them is this quietly devastating 1973 melodrama in which he plays a former robber whose efforts to lead an honest life are encouraged by a social worker (Jean Gabin) and thwarted by a vengeful cop (Michel Bouquet). This is one of Delon’s most openhearted characters, who provides the actor with the rare opportunity to shed screen tears. Toward the end, José Giovanni’s film turns into an impassioned plea against the death penalty. You will not forget the final shots.
Once again Delon took risks as a producer, entrusting this narratively and politically daring project from 1976 to the expatriated American director Joseph Losey. Delon’s Robert Klein is profiteering from Jews trying to flee 1942 Paris when one day he realizes there is a Jewish man with the same name as his. He begins obsessively tracking the other Mr. Klein, who always remains just out of reach, and becomes embroiled in a Kafkaesque nightmare. By the mid-1970s, Delon was getting used to portraying characters who play things close to to the vest, but here he is masterful as a man who feels as if he is losing his grip on his identity, and reality itself.
‘Three Men to Kill’
Delon entered the 1980s with another successful collaboration with Deray. Fans of the brilliant writer Jean-Patrick Manchette may be frustrated by the liberties this adaptation takes with his novel, but “Three Men to Kill” stands on its own as a taut thriller distinguished by an almost clinical sobriety. Delon plays Michel Gerfaut, a professional poker player who finds himself embroiled in a violent conspiracy. The film culminates in an ending that is stunning in its matter-of-fact hopelessness.
Read More: Where to Stream the Films of Alain Delon
