AldoSterone Without even checking, I knew from the first 20 minutes that the movie is from the post-1968 era in France. At the time, they tried to build a case against death penalty and raise awareness on the issues faced by ex-cons trying to return to normal life. The intention is good but the concept didn't age very well. First of all, there is no death penalty in France any more and presenting the convicts as "victims" is not perceived as a reasonable position today. Giovanni makes one character say: "we must destroy all prisons and the problem is solved". Just this quote gives you the spirit of the whole movie. For the rest, nothing really happens. At times, the camera work reminds me of romantic movies for 16-year old girls: slow motion, love music, people playing, jiggling, happiness in their faces, hugging in slow motion again... I mean, really??The voice-over is irritating. They use it too much along the movie. So rather than showing what's happening, they actually tell it.

vostf Alain Delon produced this movie and this sums up its flaws: 'Two Men in Town' is mostly about showcasing a very likable ex-con. A real role model for ex-con actually. You can guess that the story of a very likable ex-con offers very little to entertain (not joking here) or thrill you. Actually the movie looks like a would-be film noir where fate takes the whole movie to step in. In a real bona fide film noir the hero is gradually derailed from the start, here we have to wait again and again. And suspense it is not, not when it's just about waiting for something to really happen as opposed to teasing.José Giovanni never was a good director, his main flaw being his dull complacent treatment of honour/friendship among thieves/gangsters and other all-brawn social outcasts. So he was always weak on character depth and character development. Now, when you are tired you can enjoy the simplistic story and action of some of his movies, the problem being there is no action here and Giovanni has no clue what character psychology might be (well apparently you never get a chance to understand psychology in jail).All in all you can passively enjoy this movie on a dull evening. Gabin is not doing much, but it's Gabin and he still had charisma. Delon is pleased with his poor handsome straight guy thingy and it is OK to watch him enjoy it (that is taking his slim role very much seriously). Then there are a couple of nice supporting characters that happen to ring in and they do help to stand 90 minutes of mostly nothing.The ending fails to bring something new, it even fails to build a consistent case against death penalty. The last few images of Delon should be gripping, but the setup was too low-key for it to be the heart-wrenching moment you would expect.

MartinHafer This is an interesting film in structure, as the main conflict doesn't even present itself until almost 40 minutes into the film. Up until then, it's a very nice story about an ex-con (Alain Delon) and his good friend--a social worker who befriended him in prison and has worked to help rehabilitate him (Jean Gabin). However, even though Delon is doing a great job on his parole (even after tragedy strikes)and is living an honest life, an old cop who arrested him a decade earlier has decided that it's his mission to PROVE that Delon didn't change and is just another con waiting to show his true colors! And so, doggedly, the cop seems determined to push Delon until he forces his to turn bad.While the parallels are not perfect and the setting has been updated to modern France, this sure seemed like a reworking of the classic Victor Hugo story "Les Misérables". Like the leading man from the novel, Jean Valjean, Delon's character has changed after leaving prison and is committed to doing right. And, like Javert, the cop who suddenly enters his life will stop at nothing to prove that a man like Delon CAN'T change despite all appearances to the contrary. So, the cop harasses the man's employer, his girlfriend...any one and everyone. He brings Delon in for interrogations and pushes the man unmercifully--so much so that you assume sooner or later Delon will snap. What happens next is a bit of a shock--and makes for an exciting finale and a very compelling film.It's interesting, by the way, that the bad cop is not the only thing in the system that conspires to keep criminals criminals. Other than Gabin, the rest of the prison officials in the film seem like reactionaries--who unintentionally perpetuate the problems through their stupidity. While this is somewhat of an over-simplification, I like this angle, as prison officials often do make the problems worse (I used to work with the prison system like Gabin's character and was amazed at how corrupt or dumb some of these men were--including come guards who were simply sadists). It's a novel approach (aside from the Hugo novel) and made the film quite compelling. Plus, it humanized Delon so much that you hurt for him and really were rooting for him throughout the film.

didiermustntdie Formidable film built on an original scenario, Two men in the city is a load against the death penalty and a dark report on the incapacity of the Republic to grant one second chance to that which made an error. But it is also, quite simply, the tragic history of a man. Four years after their Clan of the siciliens, José Giovanni again joins together the couple, Gabin/Delon in a film . It calls also upon one of known leading man , with dishevelling Michel Bouquet in relentless police , Bernard Giraudeau who plays the son of the teacher Cazeneuve, the presenter Christine Fabréga, his wife, Cecile Vassort ,his daughter.Victor Lanoux , Gerard Depardieu and Gabrille Briand three mafias, One could say, in a certain manner, which we all are of Gino Strabliggi..... that's a simple existence transfers with the drama. What is striking, it is to see the life gradually escaping the character literally from film. A combination of circumstances: a mourning which pushes to start again elsewhere, the chance which puts to you in the presence of harmful characters, voluntarily or involuntarily, the feeling of injustice in justice. The interpretation of Alain Delon one of his best in his career. One will never say enough the importance of the glances in this film. Delon deploys a varied and sensitive "pallet" . Jean Gabin, to his practice, brings a considerable appreciation to the interest of film. Narrator and the pilot main thing of the drama, it systematically replaces the pseudo truths in their true contradiction with the owner of the printing works which employs Gino Strabliggi, humanity in a terribly mechanical and cold landscape. It is necessary to have seen the two almost dumb scenes in which the two actors exchange glances, that of the visiting room and that of the execution. Into the latter, Gino Strabliggi slips to Germain Cazeneuve "- I am afraid" like that of a son to his father.last word ,the original music of Philippe Sarde, perfectly adapted to film; light and sad old story... like the destiny.